After collecting yet another gold medal in yesterday's triathlon team relay event at Strathclyde Park Alistair Brownlee called for a rethink on his sport by the Olympic movement.

The reigning Olympic champion, who completed a full career set of available titles at major championships by adding this win to Thursday's individual triumph, believes the team event is not only a perfect showcase for his sport but is exactly in line with true Olympian ideals.

He said: "We tried, along with a lot of other people, to get it into 2016 because it's a fantastic Olympic event, the inclusion of men and women competing together, the team element, the tactical element...it's fast, it's good to watch. Hopefully it will get there, but [by then] I won't be doing triathlon any more."

That looked a natural invitation for his brother Jonny, who on Thursday lamented always having to settle for second or third behind his older sibling, to say he would definitely plan to extend his career to 2020 if the team event was included. "Ask me after Rio," he said, however. "If you'd asked me after London I would have said definitely not. The body will have gone through a lot by then."

In terms of quadrennial events, this may go down as an historic occasion for the thousands who got to watch arguably the greatest of all modern athletes perform in this dynamic form of triathlon. With all four of their team members having won medals in Thursday's individual triathlon races, including both champions, this was never going to be much more than a series of laps of honour for the English team.

With the genuine contest for medals taking place some distance behind them - South Africa's individual bronze medallist Richard Murray ultimately holding off Australia's Ryan Bailie to secure silver for his team - the most clear-cut favourites in any event at these Games were in cruise mode from the moment Brownlee junior surged clear on his bike leg half-an-hour into the race. The margin would probably have been more than a minute had Alistair, on the glory leg, not indulged in his now trademark practice of exchanging high fives with spectators then collecting flags. He admitted to a trace of anxiety over having left early on the changeover with women's individual gold medallist Jodie Stimpson, but even had he incurred a 15-second penalty he would still have been a long way clear.

Meanwhile, as Scotland trailed in seventh of the nine competing teams it was easy to wonder about the effect of the apparent inconsistency in the thinking behind the team's selection process. Their men had been told that in Thursday's individual event, the first two to finish would take part in the relay, but Grant Sheldon, in particular, looked extremely weary yesterday after having expended the required energy to win his place.

At the opposite end of the preparation spectrum, Natalie Milne and Seonaid Thompson had not been entered for the individual event, which potentially meant they were fresh for the relay. However, if it was largely about gaining experience, it seemed odd that their emphasis was shifted so late to the shorter discipline, Thompson having completely switched her training focus only last month after being named in the team.

What no one could factor in, though, was the weather and, speaking amidst a cloudburst after the race, David McNamee, who hauled Scotland past Wales on the final leg, observed ruefully that it might have suited them better had such customary Scottish summer conditions arrived earlier, as opposed to both their races taking place in glorious sunshine.

As Fran Healy didn't quite sing: why does it always rain on us, except when we want it to...