Con­grats to Eric Bell, a for­mer Far­ragut Native and Knoxvil­lian, a Triathalon World Champ. Cur­rently, on his way back from Van­cover, British Columbia…via an email from Eric:

It is a dream that stirs in me long before I ever real­ized it was so. I have wanted to com­pete for the United States of Amer­ica, in something…anything. I have been a run­ner for many years. I ran in mid­dle school, high school, and then on to col­lege, where I ran for the Uni­ver­sity of Ten­nessee. After col­lege, I did what soci­ety expects from every graduate…I got a JOB. I am for­tu­nate that it came with many great opportunities.

All this time there has been a voice inside me that keeps say­ing, “There is so much more for you out there and you must accom­plish it”. My vision now is to com­pete on the 2012 Olympic Team. After just my sec­ond year of com­pet­ing in triathlons all over the world, I real­ize this has become an absolute pos­si­bil­ity. I have worked hard to finance my train­ing, and my com­pe­ti­tions. I am blessed to have such a sup­port­ive net­work of fam­ily and friends.

My dream is pos­si­ble. With a lot of deter­mi­na­tion and ded­i­ca­tion on my part I will make my dream come true. In doing so, I know that I could not be where I am today with­out the peo­ple who believe in me and offer their support.