Il Nuovo Postiglione - Brownlee dropped from British triathlon team for Olympics

Jonny and older brother Alistair have been mainstays of the sport in Britain for more than a decade, with five Olympic medals between them.

Alistair made his Games debut in 2008 before winning gold on home soil four years later in London.

He successfully defended the title in Rio, while Jonny took bronze in 2012, silver in Rio and a gold as part of Britain's relay team in Tokyo three years ago.

His performance in that race led Jonny Brownlee to reverse his decision to retire from Olympic competition in a bid to make one further appearance in Paris.

But the 34-year-old's results since Tokyo have been disappointing and he has missed out on the second men's place in the British team, with debutant Sam Dickinson, 26, selected alongside Tokyo silver medallist Alex Yee.

Performance director Mike Cavendish, speaking to Britain's PA news agency, said of the decision to omit Jonny Brownlee: "It's one of those things where Jonny has given so much to this sport and he's still an absolutely outstanding athlete.

"There's no doubt that, had we decided to pick Jonny, he would have still done a brilliant job. We're just faced with having to make some really difficult decisions and we've got an athlete in Sam who just edged it this time."

Cavendish added: "He (Brownlee) was disappointed. You'd not expect anything different from an athlete of his calibre.

"He's programmed to go and be successful. He's done that ever since he was a young kid racing in junior all the way through to winning a gold medal in Tokyo. But he understands we've got very difficult decisions to make."

T.Barbieri--INP