Chris Hoy with his three gold medals, from the Team Sprint, the Keirin, and the Men's Sprint. Not bad for a bloke who saw his specialty event, the kilo, dropped from the Olympic program. Scotland's most successful Olympian ever, it was just announced that they're naming a velodrome in Glasgow after him. CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images.
This is the exact moment where Jason Kenny, front, knows he's lost to Chris Hoy, rear. It was always going to be a big ask anyway, but when Kenny jumped out front he must have known that it was all over, nothing in the world could have stopped Hoy coming around him to win. Look at the concentration and determination on Hoy's face. DANIEL GARCIA/AFP/Getty Images
Victoria Pendleton with her gold medal for the Women's Sprint. She beat Australia's Anne Mears in the final to claim her first, but probably not her last, Olympic medal. CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images
Basically, the British team owned the Laoshan Velodrome. They won 12 medals on the track. 7 of those 12 medals were gold, which only left 3 gold medal for the rest of the world! The 7 gold medals they won at the velodrome propelled Britain to 3rd in the overall Olympic medal table. An incredible performance, it just shows what can be achieved with the right funding, support and structure to develop talent. But, there was one sour note for the British. There was a shock in the Men's Madison, where the British team of Mark Cavendish (who won 4 stages at the TdF this year) and Bradley Wiggins (who already has 2 gold medals this Olympics) could only manage 9th. Argentina won, Spain came second, and Russia third. Amazingly, the result means that Cavendish will be the only British track cycling squad member to return home without a medal. Every other member of the squad has won at least one medal. I'm a big fan of Cavendish, and while I know the 4 stages at the Tour are a bigger deal, I'm disappointed for him that he didn't add the Madison gold to his palmarès. He must be gutted! Imagine being on that plane home, when every other member of the team is wearing an Olympic medal! Still, I'm sure he'll bounce back. Will he quit the track now and focus on road, or will he be back on the boards in London in 2012? Who knows, but I do know that he's got many, many wins to come in his career.So, congratulations to all the racers at the Laoshan Velodrome. Britain has shown the way, and now it's up to the rest of the world to step their game up if they want to compete. Hipster Nascar will now return to it's regular schedule of inconsequential bullshit, lazy poachings from Tracko, and pictures of cycling caps. Yay me!
3 comments:
A totally amazing achievement; but then again the total spend on the GBR olympic team was GBP250M+.
Let's say that a gold is 3 points, a silver is 2 points and a bronze is 1 point. So far the UK have won 16 gold, 10 silver, 10 bronze. That's £3.2M per point...or £9.6M per gold. Now, given that Ireland has spent €30M in the current olympic cycle, you do kind of have to ask yourself how they are so incredibly far ahead. I'd suggest the 260M is actually closer to 500M when you take into account all the facilities they have built in the last 10 years. If you look at the OCI grant sheet the money is spread incredibly thinly over lots of sports (David Gillick, one of our most talented runners gets, wait for it, about 30K in funding every year and trains in the UK). There are basically no facilities in Ireland at Olympic standard.
GBR decided to win, and they did. Ireland relies on the odd flash in the pan.
$12 million dollars and an Australian coach later.... Just shoring themselves up before the olympics go to the UK/
You're dead right, Paul. But, with so little money to go around, should the Irish Olympic Council put all their eggs in one basket? Now, if they'd only invest in my simple scheme, earn money fast in your own home, no money down, apply today, everyone a winner!
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