By Mitch Phillips RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Alistair Brownlee ended the "favourite's curse" when he triumphed on home soil in the 2012 Olympic triathlon and, due to the absence of Javier Gomez, the Englishman starts at even shorter odds in Thursday's swim-bike-run event. The showdown between Brownlee and multiple world champion Gomez, second in 2012, disappeared when the Spaniard broke his arm in a bike crash last month, opening the way for Brownlee to become the first person to win back-to-back triathlon golds. Brownlee has suffered with injury since his London triumph, eventually undergoing ankle surgery after finding he was running almost every race in pain. More...