The decision to relocate the headquarters was voted on and passed by the Executive Board and will come into operation when the ITU re-opens on Tuesday (January 7).

However, while the main headquarters will officially be located in Lausanne, the international governing body will continue to maintain its offices in Vancouver and Madrid and, to date, has no plans for staff to relocate.

The move has been been triggered by the need to be closer to the Olympic epicentre of Lausanne and to build on the momentum, particularly in Europe, that the sport has gained in recent years.

This was underlined by the success of the London 2012 Games competition, where the achievements of home athlete Alistair Brownlee helped to consolidate the sport among the core Olympic disciplines. 

Triathlon has surged in popularity in recent times, as illustrated by the success of the London 2012 competition ©Getty Images

Since modern triathlon was pioneered in the United States in the 1970s it has always been closely associated with Canada.

Although the first ITU congress and the inaugural World Championships were held in the French town of Avignon, the federation has always been based in Vancouver after being set up in the home of the first ITU President Les McDonald in 1989.

Although born in England McDonald, who led the organisation from its inception in 1989 until 2008, emigrated to Canada in the 1950s and set up the British Columbia Triathlon Association and the Canadian Triathlon Federation as well as the ITU and is largely credited for triathlon's inclusion onto the Olympic programme.

Furthermore, the first men's triathlon Olympic champion was from Canada in the form of the recently retired Simon Whitfield while, somewhat ironically, the inaugural women's race was won by Switzerland's Brigitte McMahon.

Since Simon Whitfield won the inaugural men's Olympic triathlon title at Sydney 2000, European competitors have gradually taken over at the helm of the sport ©Getty Images



Spanish ITU President Marisol Casado, who was elected in Vancouver in 2008, admitted the importance of Canada to the sport but described the necessity of relocating to Europe.

"Vancouver has played an important role in the history, with the ITU having maintained its headquarters there since its inception nearly 25 years ago," said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) member.

"But with the IOC and a vast majority of International Federations and Organisations located in Lausanne, we believe the best choice for the future of triathlon was to move the headquarters to Lausanne."

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