Triathlon - Modern Triathlon and Organizations

The first modern swim/bike/run event to be called a 'triathlon' was held at Mission Bay, San Diego, California on September 25, 1974. The race was conceived and directed by Jack Johnstone and Don Shanahan, members of the San Diego Track Club, and was sponsored by the track club. 46 participants entered this event. It was reportedly not inspired by the French events, although a race the following year at Fiesta Island, California, is sometimes called 'the first triathlon in America.'

Today, a number of triathlon events over varying distances are held around the world. The standard "Olympic Distance" of 1.5/40/10 km (.93/24.8/6.2 miles) was created by long time triathlon race director Jim Curl in the mid-1980s, after he and partner Carl Thomas produced the U.S. Triathlon Series (USTS) between 1982 and 1997. The Hawaii Ironman Triathlon serves as the Ironman World Championship. The entity that owns the race, the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), hosts other triathlons around the world that also fall under the Ironman brand. Long-distance multi-sport events organized by groups other than the WTC may not officially be called "Ironman" or "Iron" races. Such triathlons may be described as Full distance triathlon or "Half distance", but the "Ironman" and "Iron" labels are the official property of the WTC.

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) was founded in 1989 as the international governing body of the sport, with the chief goal, at that time, to put triathlon on the Olympic program. For its part, the ITU does not sanction WTC races.; however, USAT uses a combination of ITU and WTC rules to sanction WTC's branded events.

International Ultra-Triathlon Association(IUTA) is the official governing body of Ultratriathlon which involves triathlon in longer distances than Ironman