Reed Races for US

Palmerston North-born Matt Reed is 6-foot-5 and the world’s tallest triathelete. Two weeks ago Reed, 32, won the US men’s team trials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and secured a place on the American Olympic team. “It was total exhilaration, a total dream,” he says. Reed suffers from severe asthma, and after racing in Beijing in September 2007 doctors determined he had been using less than 50 per cent of his total lung capacity. However he says he never thinks about quitting. “Not once.” Reed lives in Boulder, Colorado. His brother, Shane, also a triathelete, is to compete as part of the New Zealand Olympic contingent.