• Olympic focus

Brownlee brothers not looking at the bigger picture

Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee have their sights firmly set on Olympic gold at London 2012 © Gatorade

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The Olympic Games may be the biggest event of an athlete's career, but triathlon world champion Alistair Brownlee prefers not to think about London 2012 on a daily basis as he bids to add Olympic gold to the world title he won last month.

A two-time world champion at the tender age of 23, Brownlee followed up his victory in Australia in 2009 with victory in Beijing last month, with younger brother Jonathan taking silver.

The Brownlee brothers may not attract the exposure that the likes of Sir Chris Hoy or Jessica Ennis enjoy, but they are two of Britain's greatest hopes for medals next summer.

While they are firmly focused on the task in hand, the pair admit they don't think about the end goal on a daily basis. Speaking at the launch of the Gatorade G Series Pro, Alistair revealed they preferred to approach each day as a single entity, rather than look at the bigger picture.

"For us it's like any other 9-5 job," he told ESPN. "Everybody else has to get up for work, and we get up for training."

"And once we're up, going swimming or whatever else we have to do, we are always told what we are doing so it is difficult to lose focus," added Jonathan.

One of the biggest growing sports in the UK, Britain is enjoying great success in all areas of the sport. The Brownlees' success coincides with Helen Jenkins, the current women's world champion and Chrissie Wellington, who continues to dominate the women's ironman triathlons.

While British Cycling can take credit for much of Team GB's success at recent Olympics, Alistair believes it is more coincidence. Despite a rich tradition of British triathlon success - Britain has had nine men's world champions since 1989 - Britain have never won an Olympic medal since the sport's introduction to the Games in 2000.

"It is not one thing that prompted the British success," Alistair said. "More than anything I think it is a coincidence that us, Chrissie Wellington and Helen Jenkins are all around at the same time and are enjoying success. I think there are one million different reasons, but hopefully our success will encourage more people to take up the sport and a new generation of triathletes will emerge."

Alistair Brownlee is the reigning world champion © Gatorade

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With Jenkins topping the women's triathlon rankings and Alistair and Jonathan regularly on the podium, Britain's Olympic medal drought is expected to come to an end next summer. The relatively flat surroundings of Hyde Park may not be ideally suited to the Leeds-based brothers, Yorkshiremen born and bred, but they are determined to make the most of home advantage. The pair achieved the qualifying standard for London 2012 at the test event in August.

"We've raced at Hyde Park a couple of times this year and it's is a fantastic venue for the triathlon and a real showcase sport - we go past all the big monuments and tourist attractions on the route," Alistair said. "It's not a hugely challenging course - there are no real hills so it will make the race more tactical."

"We generally prefer hilly courses because coming from Yorkshire that's where our strengths lie," Jonathan added. "On a flatter course someone can hide in the pack during the cycling where they would normally get left behind and then finish strongly on the run.

"But Hyde Park has its own challenges - it's not so easy with a big pack but we have to make the most of home advantage. Being in London for the Olympics means we don't have to travel far, the food will be the same and the climate will be a massive factor. We've had to train in heat chambers to train for some races and we won't have to worry about that at all."

They may have benefits of home comforts, but do they feel the added pressure of performing on home soil?

"Nobody puts more pressure on us than ourselves," said Jonathan. "You can't think about outside influences and other reasons - you just have to concern yourself with your own race and when you are on the start line you want to do your best, but at the end of the day you are racing for yourself and nobody else - not for Britain and not for the good of the sport."

The Brownlees were speaking at the launch of the Gatorade G Series Pro range, a new series of sports performance products that fuel athletes before, during and after workout, practice or competition. Available to buy in stores from November 20, follow @GatoradeUK for more information.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.