Olympic Track Cycling

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

Gold!!!

 

[Skint Gull]

Great stuff fellas!

 

[Bozza]

Bloody web froze at the wrong time.

Did they win well? Another WR?

 

[Bones]

Bloody web froze at the wrong time.

Did they win well? Another WR?

Ditto!

By bout 0.5 seconds

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

Bloody web froze at the wrong time.

Did they win well? Another WR?

Not WR pace I don't think, but they were half a second in front - looked pretty easy by the end

 

[Stat Brother]

Get in.
This thread is going to be huge, in a few days time.

The 3000m women look fairly nailed on, too.

 

[Frutos]

Did they win well? Another WR?

Not quite another WR, but a comfortable enough win (as comfortable as you can expect in an Olympic final anyways).

 

[Stat Brother]

Quite refreshingly blunt - none of this "He's got a PB and you can't ask for more than that" approach that seems to prevail in many other sports, where they ignore that the PB is only good enough to finish 127th in the world.

Exactly


The curse of GB olympic athletes finally strikes, today. - North Stand Chat

 

[CHAPPERS]

Oooh how exciting.

 

[User removed 4]

Heard Chris Boardman on 5Live earlier this week talking about prospects for 'Team GB'. He said quite clearly that if there wasn't a genuine and realistic belief that a cyclist could get a medal, then they weren't sent to the Olympics as it wasn't good for the cyclist.

Quite refreshingly blunt - none of this "He's got a PB and you can't ask for more than that" approach that seems to prevail in many other sports, where they ignore that the PB is only good enough to finish 127th in the world.

totally agree.

 

[black & white seagull]

Interesting article on how GB managed to get so flamin' good at cycling. Now if those techniques could just be applied to a few other sports we might actually get somewhere...

BBC SPORT | Olympics | Cycling | How GB cycling went from tragic to magic

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Whatever happened to the brave, plucky Brits, gaining success against almost insurmountable odds?

We're performing just like Australians and Americans - as if we'd turned up absolutely certain that we were technically superior, well prepared and at our athletic peak.

British cyclists are RUINING these Olympics. I want SURPRISES. There aren't any.

 

[The Large One]

The French cyclists only lost because they were wearing onions round their necks.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

The French cyclists only lost because they were wearing onions round their necks.

Don't forget the drag caused by wearing berets and repeatedly sitting up to shrug in a Gallic manner.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Heard Chris Boardman on 5Live earlier this week talking about prospects for 'Team GB'. He said quite clearly that if there wasn't a genuine and realistic belief that a cyclist could get a medal, then they weren't sent to the Olympics as it wasn't good for the cyclist.

Quite refreshingly blunt - none of this "He's got a PB and you can't ask for more than that" approach that seems to prevail in many other sports, where they ignore that the PB is only good enough to finish 127th in the world.

Boardman is in a position to say something like that. Can he say that as they have an extremely strong squad or do they have a strong squad as they only work with those who have a genuine chance of success? We haven't been kings of the velodrome forever and we used to put out cyclists that had no chance of winning a medal.

Over 90% of the athletes that appear in the Olympics will not win a medal of any colour and a large proportion do not stand a chance of winning a medal. Should we not bother sending out any 100m sprinters? In fact, I can't see beyond Bolt or Powell, so we only need a couple of others to fight it out for the third spot.

I understand the ideal behind only sending out athletes with a chance of glory, but losing at the olympics is not going to hinder an athlete. It is worth pointing out at this point that Michael Phelps appeared in the Sydney 2000 Olympics and did not take a medal home or stand a real chance of success. Possibly a bad example, as he was very young, but it doesn't seem to have done him any harm.

Well done to the cyclists though. This is a culmination of years of hard work behind the scenes and some talismanic performances by the coaches and athletes.

 

[Stat Brother]

Interesting article on how GB managed to get so flamin' good at cycling. Now if those techniques could just be applied to a few other sports we might actually get somewhere...

BBC SPORT | Olympics | Cycling | How GB cycling went from tragic to magic

I've not read the whole article, but a striking fact for me is there was deemed to be a 'gap' in the coaching staff.
Chris Boardman knew what was needed from the right person and knew the person who had those qualities.
The only problem was the guy in question is a German cyclist (name escapes me), who should be there now riding for Germany.

But the team knew who they wanted and got him, simple as that.
The fella in question will, when interviewed, say words to the effect of, 'there is a level of professionalism in Team GB, that the Germans could only dream about'.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Woohoo, todays the day, it's finally arrived, the start for our finest medal prospects is upon us.
To say I'm a little excited about this, is an understatement.

I was chatting with BoF about how traditionally Team GB are reserved as athletes. Well nobody told Bradley Wiggins, that:-

"1 gold medal will be disappointing, 2 is satisfactory, winning all 3 would be good".

Not heard from Cavendish yet, I wonder if the team are keeping him 'under wraps' as he's prone to shoot from the lip.

Good on him. I probably shouldn't have thrown their names into that other thread, I was merely picking athletes I could think of at the time.

The point is that they are the men to beat and they are in a position to say that it is time to deliver. As Mr Horton said below, they have been performing like Olympic champions without the Olympics, so it is a question of doing it.

I just don't see how [insert atheletes name] says that he/she is pleased with their performance or beating their SB or PB is wrong. I don't think it is defeatist at all, but accepting their own limitations. Only two or three sprinters stand a chance in the 100m, but everyone else can be pleased with themselves if they ran to their own capacity and achieved the times that they are capable of.

 

[Simster]

I just don't see how [insert atheletes name] says that he/she is pleased with their performance or beating their SB or PB is wrong. I don't think it is defeatist at all, but accepting their own limitations. Only two or three sprinters stand a chance in the 100m, but everyone else can be pleased with themselves if they ran to their own capacity and achieved the times that they are capable of.

Exactly. Whilst it is fantastic to see us absolutely RUNNING THE SHOW in a particular discipline, I don't think it's fair to rubbish other people who sweat and toil from 5am every morning for years and all for their moment in the sun. If they've reached Olympic qualifying standard, their entry should be welcolmed IMO.

Of course where it falls down is seeing qualifying entries that are far too lax allowing in various jokers like Eric the Eel and Eddie the Eagle. You may as well have let England play in the European soccerball Finals if you're going to let any old numpty into major competition.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Hurrah Gold

Well done Hoy, Kenny and Jamie

Lots to come to hope

 

[Stat Brother]

Kelly S, has just been interviewed "you could end up 3rd over night, you must be happy with that". "No way, I should be winning this, I came here for gold, not runner up".

That's the spirit, not 'well we are happy with 7th'.