Kingston & District Sports Hall of Fame

Simon Whitfield

Birth: May 16, 1975
Home Town: Kingston, Ontario
Inducted as: Athlete
Inducted for: Triathlon,
Inducted in: 2025

Biography:

Simon Whitfield began his competitive running career in Kingston at an early age, first with cross country and distance track races while at Sydenham Public School and then Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute. His first experience in triathlon was in the Kids of Steel event in Sharbot Lake at 12 years-old in 1987.

At 17, Simon relocated to Australia to develop his skills in swimming, cycling and running and set a goal to become competitive in elite triathlon races.

After completing school Simon moved to Victoria, British Columbia where he could train in the summer and in the winter months at Bondi Beach, Australia.

Simon made the Canadian National Triathlon team in 1996, won a Canadian Championship in 1998 and a bronze medal at the Pan Am Games in 1999. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Simon won the first gold medal in the Olympic Men’s Triathlon Competition. At the 2004 games in Athens Simon suffered from food poisoning and finished 11th. In the 2008 Olympics in Athens, Greece he finished a close second, just over five seconds behind champion Jan Frodeno of Germany. Simon was Canada’s flag bearer for the London Olympics in 2012 but, unfortunately, wasn’t able to finish the triathlon due to a cycling accident where he broke his collarbone.

After retiring from competitive triathlon in 2013 Simon was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. Over a 16-year competitive career, Simon won 14 International Triathlon Union World Cup victories and was a 12-time National Champion. In 2017 he was inducted into the International Triathlon Union Hall of Fame.