IRON MAIDEN GUTIERREZ PRIMED FOR FIRST TRIATHLON.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer

Jennifer Gutierrez is dedicated to the sport that has sent her to the Summer Olympics in Sydney.

But she doesn't let training to be a triathlete consume her life.

``Some people give our sport a bad name,'' said Gutierrez, a former Pepperdine swimmer among Team USA's best hopes for a triathlon medal.

``I think the people who do Iron Man (triathlons) take it too far . . . I keep myself sane. It doesn't thrill me to train all day. I really wouldn't have much of a life if I did.''

But Gutierrez, a 33-year-old native of San Antonio, Texas, found out she could excel in triathlon. She was the first American woman to qualify for the Sydney Games, the first Olympics to offer triathlon as a medal event.

Gutierrez earned ``elite'' status five years ago and ranked 16th in the world (second in the U.S.) after placing seventh at the ITU World Cup in Sydney last April and fourth at the 1999 Pan American Games.

Gutierrez's training habits are hardly tame preparing for a sport that requires swimming, bicycling and running skills. She works out all but one day a week without burning herself out

``I train about (4-5) hours a day. Maybe two hours swimming, two hours biking and maybe one running,'' Gutierrez said. ``Some people work out for six hours a day. It's whatever your body can do.''

Before triathlon, Gutierrez's was primarily a swimmer, though she also ran track and cross country at Oliver Wendell Holmes High in San Antonio.

Her swimming prowess earned Gutierrez a full scholarship to Pepperdine, where in the late 1980s she established school swimming records in the 200, 500 and 1000 (the latter two still stand).

Her late father Johnny ``Tiger'' Gutierrez was the driving force in Jennifer's development as an athlete. Johnny, who succumbed to prostate cancer in June, 1999 at the age of 68, was a semi-pro baseball player.

``He supported me to have an athletic background, which was so important to me,'' Gutierrez said of her dad. ``I just wanted to do it for himself and myself.''

When she met her future husband, age-group triathlete Bob Utberg, Gutierrez took up the sport she caught onto quickly when relocating to Denver.

In four amateur triathlons in 1994, Gutierrez finished first twice and second twice, giving glimpse that she had a bright future.

The Olympic version of the sport is not the unreal physical strain of the Iron Man triathlon series that features a two-mile-plus swim, 100-mile-plus bike ride and 26.2-mile marathon run.

But the Olympic triathlon distance - 1.5 kilometers in the water, 40 kilometers on the bike and a 10K run - offers Gutierrez challenges not just mentally but physically. Strategy, including drafting in the bicycle portion of the course, is imperative for winning races.

Gutierrez's lack of experience in competitive cycling has been the biggest focus in improving her triathlon times. But she's become consistent in each facet of the race.

``It's a lot of work. But it's like any other sport you train at. Whether it's one sport or three,'' said Gutierrez, a physical education teacher in the Denver area.

Gutierrez's triathlon success hasn't gone unnoticed by her peers. She was named Team USA's captain over the six-person (three men, three women) in Sydney.

``I like it because I'm very fair,'' Gutierrez said of her captaincy. ``If I want something, but everyone else wants something different, I will go with the majority.''

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Jennifer Gutierrez was the first American woman to qualify for the Olympic triathlon.

Bill Janscha/Associated Press