Adrian Fenty, mayor of the District of Columbia and avid triathlete, officially proclaimed Friday to be the city's Olympic Day and spent it cheering on elementary school children enrolled in Achieve Kids Triathlon. The Washington-based non-profit runs a summer camp that uses professionally trained coaches and equipment to train about 75 campers between the ages of nine and 14 in triathlon competition for six weeks free of charge.

At the end of the program campers compete in a youth triathlon that includes a 100-meter swim, 5K bike ride and 3K run. By eliminating enrollment costs, the camp exposes children to triathlons who otherwise may never had an opportunity to compete in the expensive sport.

Unlike many organized team sports, adults are more likely to compete in triathlons than younger athletes. Last year about half of USA Triathlon's 107,000 members were between the ages 30-49. Triathlons can be a sport that young people use to remain in shape and compete in at a competitive level throughout their lives.

While I was growing up, it seemed that kids were pressured to choose one sport and the multi-sport athlete was becoming less common. Kids practiced a single sport year-round and played on elite teams in hopes of perfecting the game and earning a college scholarship.

A multi-sport athlete in a Division I program is a rare find these days as UCLA's Darius Savage is one of the few. In ESPN U's article about Savage they cite sport specialization as a major cause for the disappearance of multi-sport starts.

The move towards triathlons for young people will instead make kids well-rounded athletes with the ability to succeed in several different sports. Competing in triathlons arguably gives an athlete a diverse level of fitness by combining swimming, running and biking training techniques rather than overtraining one area or one body part.

Do you think this variety will cause the multi-sport athlete to make a resurgence at the collegiate level? Do you think sport benefits from having athletes that excel in several different sports?

I've noticed triathlons to be a growing trend these days. More colleges have begun adding club triathlon teams and the Northeast Collegiate Triathlon Conference (NECTC) boasts an impressive 18-school membership from around the northeast. Fifty-four complete male teams, 40 complete female teams and over 70 incomplete teams competed at this year's USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships.

Why are triathlons appealing? What impact will programs like Achieve Kids Triathlon have on the popularity of the sport? Do you think it's a good idea to promote triathlons to young athletes?