His U.S. teammate Sheila Taormina added a silver medal to the U.S. collection.

Staged in and around the Ming Tomb Reservoir in the Changping District of Beijing, the 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run was celebrated as a success by local officials and key members of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

Kemper (Longwood, Fla.), a 2 time Olympian, put his stamp on the men’s event by out-sprinting Frederic Belaubre of France for the win.  Jan Frodeno of Germany posted his first podium finish, with Cedric Fleureton of France fourth and Andy Potts (Princeton, N.J.) finishing fifth after winning the swim prime.

In the women’s race, the American trio of Taormina (Livonia, Mich.), Barb Lindquist (Alta, Wyo.) and Becky Lavelle (Los Gatos, Calif.) built a 25-second lead in the swim and then joined forces on the bike to build up a sizeable lead on the chase pack that included the World Cup leader Annabel Luxford of Australia and young Portuguese superstar Vanessa Fernandez. 

Luxford dropped out in the early stages of the bike. 

With Luxford out of the way, Fernandes went to work on the gap to the leader and finally caught them on the last lap.  She exited the transition first and ran home for her third World Cup victory of the season. Taormina held off a charging Helen Tucker of Great Britain for second, as Susan Williams (Littleton, Colo.) and Andrea Whitcomb of Great Britain were fourth and fifth respectively.

The primes in the men were won by Andy Potts (swim) and Kris Gemmell of New Zealand who took both bike primes.  In the women’s race, Taormina won the swim prime and the fifth-lap bike prime with Lindquist winning the second-lap bike prime.

To celebrate the first staging of a World Cup on the 2008 Olympic venue, the athletes, officials and dignitaries enjoyed a delightful evening in the grand hall with the spectacular view of the Great Wall in the distance and the full autumn moon overhead. 

For complete results, photos and video footage visit http://www.triathlon.org/