Day 1 of Track Racing at the Olympics

Here's a "live" account of my experiences trying to watch the first day of Olympic track racing.

"Women’s feckin’ weightlifting?? Why, Venezuelan TV? For god’s sake, why??

It's 4am, and I just woke up to watch the first day's action at the Laoshan Velodrome, but I can't seem to find an online video link that will work, and the Venezuelan TV station that's covering the Olympics is showing women's weightlifting. Ok, they just changed over to the velodrome. China against Japan in the Men’s Team Sprint qualifying round, and there seems to be a problem with the Japanese team. Did one of them snap a chain?

No clue, because the only channel showing it live here have gone back to women’s weightlifting. I would understand if there was even one Venezuelan in the women’s weightlifting, but there isn’t.

Back to the velodrome! Britain against Germany in the Men's Team Sprint. Jaysus, the Brits are fast! They crush Germany, the current Olympic champions, hitting an average top speed of 62.8kmh, almost 40mph. It’s a new world record time, 42.95 seconds!

Aaaaaand back to the weightlifting… this is brutal… None of the online video links are working for me because of region restrictions, so I’m reduced to live text feeds from the BBC.

Okay, the weightlifting is over. Some giantess from China won, I think, and we’re back at Laoshan Velodrome for the Men’s 4000m Individual Pursuit qualifying round. Stephen Burke and Carlos Alzate just went, which means it was heat 2. Four more heats, and then it will be David O’Loughlin’s turn.

Oh good, now they’re showing an interview with a Venezuelan Judoka, some bloke who got knocked out of the competition days ago. C’mon! There’s actual racing happening right now! Jaysis, I’m knackered. Why am I awake?

Hey, they’re back to showing the track, and Popkov from the Ukraine was doing pretty well in the early laps, but he ends up 5th so far. Oh… they’ve changed to swimming. This is driving me mental.

Hockey?!? I quit.

Wait, wait, I don’t believe it, they’re showing David O’Loughlin’s qualifying heat! Amazing! He gets a good start, 4th fastest so far after the first lap. C’mon Davo! C’mon Ireland! Still 4th after 3 laps. The Venezuelan commentator is really struggling with David’s surname… “David…. O… Youngling?” Not bad, I suppose. David has slipped to 5th. C’mon son, dig dig dig! He doesn’t look that comfortable to me. Brad McGee started slower but is getting faster. Bell lap! Go go go!

David’s time was 4:26:102. We’ll have to wait and see where that puts him. I think he’s 6th at the moment, but I’m not sure. Maybe 8th? That’s not good. Fastest 8 qualify.

Roulston, from New Zealand, puts in an impressive ride to register the fastest time so far. Bradley Wiggins is next, though… Wow. Wiggins is amazing. He breaks his own Olympic record, and rides the 5th fastest 4000m individual pursuit of all time, 4:15.031. Can anyone touch the British on the track this year? No. They can’t. Simple as that.

David O’Loughlin doesn’t qualify. Feck that anyway. He came 10th with his time of 4:26.102. He started well, but couldn’t keep up that pace, looked less and less comfortable as the race went on, and ended up 2 places outside of qualification. His time was a full 6 seconds slower than the Irish national record he set a couple of months ago. If he’d ridden anywhere near his personal best, he would have been in the top 5, and easily through to the next round. Gutted.

Next up, Men’s Team Sprint first round, but Venezuelan TV are showing Judo instead. I’m going back to sleep."