Introduction

I MET GREG WELCH IN 1987. It was the day before he competed in his first Hawaiian Ironman race at Kona. I was reporting on the event for the Nine Network’s Wide World of Sports. Greg was pointed out as a young Aussie with great promise—a 22-year-old plasterer from Sydney’s west, living his sporting dream by competing against his heroes. He was wide-eyed with wonder at the event, the location and the remarkable athletes he was competing against.

It was the first time I had covered the Hawaiian Ironman. I was astonished by the physical challenge of the event. To me it was pushing sport well into its red zone. In addition, Kona’s climate seemed an absurd location for such an extreme test. I bought a thermometer and laid it on the tarmac of the Queen K Highway during the bike ride and the run. It read 51ºC (124ºF).

I remember thinking how slightly built Greg was and how he fairly bubbled with enthusiasm and humour. He carried himself with humility, but I recognised a quiet confidence and steely determination beneath his larrikin façade. He was a rare individual: a natural gentleman and a natural sportsman.

In a world where sporting champions are increasingly produced by the ‘hothouses’ of sports institutes, with their scientific selection schemes and space age training systems and coaching, Greg Welch is a throw-back. He became a champion while still holding down a full-time job—drawing on his natural talents and a superhuman training regimen.

Greg finished that first race by surprising all the experts. He came home 45th overall, out of 1381 competitors, and won an automatic qualification for the following year. It was the first of a career full of surprises for the little battler who soon became known as ‘Plucky’.

Over the years, I followed his career from afar and was delighted when he finally broke through in 1994 to become the first non-American to win the Hawaiian Ironman. It was one of the great Australian sporting achievements: the Hawaiian Ironman World Championship is the Everest of triathlon and the Americans had held off all comers for 15 years.

Greg chalked up more than 100 triathlon victories over all distances during a career in which he established himself as arguably his sport’s greatest all-rounder. There seemed no challenge that Plucky wouldn’t attempt or couldn’t beat. In the mid-1990s, 60 Minutes named him ‘the world’s fittest man’.

Leading up to the Sydney Olympics, I joined the Seven Network’s broadcast team and looked forward to seeing Greg win the first triathlon Olympic gold medal in his home town. He seemed certain to go into the Games ranked number one in the world over the Olympic distance, and to line up in Sydney as an unbackable favourite and ride the emotional support of his home crowd to gold.

Like his many supporters around the world, I was shattered when I heard that Plucky had suffered a life-threatening heart condition during the 1999 Hawaiian Ironman. Unbelievably, he would not only miss out on the fairytale ending to his career but he would also face an uncertain future.

Initially, Greg seemed to be fully in control of his medical condition. I worked with him at the Sydney Games as he commentated on the triathlon events. He seemed to be the same old Plucky, all optimism and sparky humour.

But over the next few years I began to hear reports that Plucky was really struggling with his health. I had no idea how dark his world had become until I went with him to the 2004 Hawaiian Ironman. There I heard first-hand how, in chasing his Olympic dream, he’d pushed his long-suffering body past its breaking point. Greg’s heart condition inexorably worsened. He was forced to have a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted. By 2003 the world’s fittest man was a timid couch potato, terrified to move from one room to another for fear of triggering another shock from his defibrillator.

Greg’s story transcends sport. Heart of a Champion is the tale of a battler who climbs to the top of one of the toughest sports on earth. With his lifelong dream at his fingertips, it is snatched away…along with his health…and almost his life. But at his lowest ebb, Greg’s true character shone through. Drawing on his unquenchable inner spirit, he fought back. It was his toughest challenge…and his greatest victory.

Patrick Lindsay