Erin Densham, one of Australia’s most decorated triathletes, is in a strong place heading into next week’s women’s triathlon at Rio 2016, according to Triathlon Australia’s national performance director, Bernard Savage. Densham, who in the seven years from 2004 to 2010 took part in 44 ITU competitions and achieved 22 top-ten positions, has suffered more than her fair share of health setbacks in recent years. Between the 2008 Beijing Olympics and London 2012 she was hampered by injury, illness and heart surgery.

Then came reports last week that her preparation for her last pre-Olympics hit-out at Montreal had been hampered due to her plane having to make an emergency landing at Thunder Bay in Canada because of a threat made to the aircraft.

Savage told Inside Sport, as part of our Olympics special edition, that Densham is in a good place mentally and physically for next week’s 1.5km swim, 40km bike leg and 10km run around Fort Copacabana.

“Erin’s had a well-documented time since her bronze in London where she obviously hadn’t been at the peak of her powers; it took her a long time to recover both physically and psychologically from the London experience,” said Savage.

Aussie triathlete Erin Densham. (Photo by Delly Carr)

Densham, now 31, was part of the most thrilling finish in Olympic triathlon to date at London, having been involved in a three-way sprint to the finish. After nearly two hours of racing, just thousands of a second would split eventual gold-medallist, Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig and Lisa Norden of Sweden. Entering the final run stretch, Densham fell to the back of the lead pack of three, finishing just seconds behind the sprint-finishers.

“Erin was very ill after London leading into the World Championships and the World Series final in Auckland in 2012, with pneumonia and a variety of other secondary and tertiary infections,” said Savage.

“It took her a long time to really overcome that. And then obviously the comedown from a medal performance takes some time as well. She’s well-placed to be in the game in Rio. She’s swimming very well and is a renown good swimmer. She’s very strong on the bike; probably one of the leading girls technically and strength-wise on the bike. She’ll have no problems there.”

Australia boasts a good blend of exciting youth and masterful experience at Rio. The men’s side features three Olympic debutants in Ryan Bailie, Ryan Fisher and Aaron Royle, while Densham will be joined by fellow superstar Emma Moffatt and flashy youngster Ash Gentle.