OLYMPIC PREVIEW MEET THE OLYMPIANS


LAURA BENNETT THE


PRO I


BY ERIN BERESINI


f it’s hard to imagine a time when Laura Bennett wasn’t the talk of the triathlon world, it’s because she’s been a dominant force for almost two decades. Born and raised in North Palm Beach,


Fla., Bennett is one of fi ve kids in the Reback family. She was still in grade school when her two older brothers went off to college and returned to share an exciting new discovery with Laura and her father, Paul: triathlon. Bennett, now 37, was around


the age of 10 when she entered her fi rst race at an IronKids event. But triathlon was just one of many sports she enjoyed as a youngster. She picked up running at 8 years old, no doubt because her father was a runner, and joined a club swim team at the age of 12 at a neighbor’s urging. She also played basketball, softball, fl ag football and soccer, but by the time she entered high school, she’d narrowed down her repertoire to


swimming and running, competing in triathlon on the side. Though the world will never know how far she


could’ve gone in football, it was clear she had a future in the water and on the track. As a high school athlete at Cardinal Newman High, she won All-American honors in swimming and was the Florida state track champion in the mile and two-mile events — twice. She also raced as a member of USAT’s junior national team in 1993. She continued to swim while pursuing a fi nance degree at Southern Methodist University, co-


48 USA TRIATHLON SUMMER 2012


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