BERMUDA triathlon official Patty Petty will be going to the Olympics in Beijing this summer to officiate. Calling it "an honour" Petty has officiated in some of the biggest triathlon events in the world ¿ but the Olympics will be the ultimate.

She was at the Athens Olympics in 2004 where she was team manager. Bermuda had Tyler Butterfield competing and this summer Flora Duffy should be on the start line.

Petty was a founding member of the Bermuda Triathlon Association in 1981 along with Jim Butterfield (Tyler's father), her husband Steven, John Cash who is now deceased and Suthy Madeiros.

The world governing body for the sport ¿ the International Triathlon Union ¿ had it's first World Championship in Avignon, France in 1989 and Petty has been team manager for numerous World Championships since that date.

The first triathlon at the Olympics was in 2000 in Sydney.

Petty said: "Following the first Olympic Games, Tyler Butterfield became involved in the sport and I travelled with him to events as the Bermuda team manager. He went to the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England and then to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. After this he moved away from the sport and took up cycling. Following Tyler, Flora Duffy was focusing on the sport overseas at Kelly College in the UK where her dedicated coach, Rich Brady, was invaluable in her development and she started to excel at major events in the UK and overseas.

"It was my intention to assist in various areas in events through the ITU and in particular the events Flora was competing in. This in the long run hopefully benefited Flora.

Petty was then asked to be an official by the ITU for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. It was then a gradual progression from the Saflord World Cup in July 2006 to the Lausanne World Championships 2006, Beijing World Cup in 2006 and Cancun World Cup in 2006.

Last year Petty travelled to the World Cups in Vancouver and Edmonton, World Championships in Hamburg, then the Beijing and Cancun World Cups.

"At the present time, this year I will be officiating at the World Championships in June and Olympic Games in August," said Petty who has been officiating for the ITU for the past two years.

Her travels have taken her to such countries as England, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Portugal, USA, Canada, China, Germany and Switzerland.

"It has always been an honour to officiate at this level for Bermuda, for the sport of triathlon and I have enjoyed working with the Bermuda Olympic Association in this capacity," she added.