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RACE REPORTS: OLYMPIC TRACK REPORT AUGUST 19
Road Bike Action
August 19, 2008
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Great Britain Wins Seven Golds: Team sprint, Team pursuit, Bradley Wiggins and Rebecca Romero in the individual pursuit, Chris Hoy in the Keirin and sprint and Victoria Pendleton in the sprint. Three Silvers: Ross Edgar in the Keirin, Wendy Houvenaghel in the individual pursuit and Jason Kenny in the sprint. Two Bronze: Chris Newton in the points race and Steven Burke in the pursuit. Not to mention Gold for Nicole Cooke in the road race and Silver Emma Pooley in the time trial. That is the incredible medal haul for Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, who are clearly the #1 nation for track racing.
The Real McHoy: Third Gold For Chris Hoy In Men's Sprint
Tuesday 19 August: Men's Sprint Semifinals
1. Mickael Bourgain (France) Vs. Chris Hoy (Great Britain)
2. Jason Kenny (Great Britain) Vs. Maximilian Levy (Germany)
Hoy beat Bourgain two straight with consummate ease while Kenny took care of Levy two in a row,
which set up an all-Great Britain sprint final.
Men's Sprint Finals
Gold Medal Ride
(Great Britain) Vs. Jason Kenny (Great Britain)
In the final, Hoy beat Kenny 2-0, although the younger Brit ran it close in both rides. Hoy concluded his Olympics with three gold medals in the Team Sprint, Keirin and Match Sprint with a perfect record in all racing. Hoy was never beaten in the 2008 Olympics and proved he is truly the Real McHoy, while Kenny
has a bright future ahead of him on the way to the 2012 Olympics in London.
Bronze Medal Ride
Mickael Bourgain (France) Vs. Maximilian Levy (Germany)
In the Bronze Medal final, hulking Frenchman beat Germany Maximilian Levy in the first ride, but
Levy turned the tables on the French sprinter in the second match beating him from the front.
But the experienced Bourgain came back strong in the third ride to take the Bronze.
Vicky Victorious! Pendleton Queen Of the Olympic Sprint
Tuesday 19 August: Women's Sprint Semifinals & Finals
1. Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) Vs. Willy Kanis (Netherlands)
2. Anna Meares (Australia) Vs Shuang Guo (China)
Pendleton easily beat Kanis two-straight with brilliant jumps on the backstraight, while Meares and Guo went at it hard. Guo won the first race from the front when Meares was sleeping. In race two, Meares kept Guo close and evened the series. In the rubber match, Guo was behind Meares and was manuvering when her front wheel slipped and the Chinese rider hit the deck. In the re-ride, Meares made a nice move to get under the Chinese rider, who then elbowed her with 220m. to go. Meares rear wheel skipped and the almost crashed, but came back to make the sprint close. Guo was first over the line but her illegal move caused the officials to relegate her. Meares then made it through to the gold medal final while Guo was shunted to the bronze medal ride against Dutchwoman Willy Kanis.
Women's Sprint Finals
Gold Medal
Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) Vs. Anna Meares (Australia)
Vicky Victorious! Sprint Queen Victoria had always found Australian Anna Meares a difficult opponent, until the 2008 Olympic Womens Sprint tournament. Pendleton simply dominated Meares two straight for the Olympic Gold medal.
Bronze Medal Willy Kanis (Netherlands)
Willy Kanis (Netherlands) Vs Shuang Guo (China)
When the decision to relegate Guo in the decider against Meares was made at Laoshang Velodrome, it was only announced in English, so many Chinese fans present did not know of the decision until the Bronze Medal race got underway with a cloud There was a chorus of boos when they figured it out, but the Chinese fans weren't disappointed as Guo easily beat Kanis 2-0 to make the Women's Sprint podium and take the Bronze for China.
Argy-Bargy For Beijing Madison Gold
Men's Madison: 200 laps (50km) 10 sprints
Taking
an early lap in a hard-fought Olympic Men's Madison, Argentina's 43
year old Juan Curuchet and 33 year old teammate Walter Perez were
surprise winners today in the Laoshan Velodrome. The Argentines
followed Italy's attack with 145 laps to go and gained their lap with
130 laps to go, but waited just off the back to get 5 points winning
Sprint 3 before making contact with the back of the bunch. Despite the
best efforts of Russia and Belgium to get even on laps with the South
Americans, they couldn't gain a lap as they were marked by Great
Britain and Germany. Russia powered away in a long effort to gain a lap
and eventually got on terms with the South American leaders. But
Argentina then scored a total of 3 points in Sprints 7 & 8 for a
total of 8 points. Spain made a strong late attack and gained a lap,
then snuck in for 3rd in the final sprint for a total of 7 points and
the Silver medal for Spain, with the Russians taking the Bronze with 5
points. One lap down were Belgium in 4th (17pts) and Germany 5th
(15pts), while Great Britain pair Cavendish & Wiggins (9th) and
Swiss track stars Marvulli & Risi (11th) were closely marked and
never
really a factor in the race. Canada was 12th, 3 laps behind, while USA
managed to score 3 points early on, but eventually lost 4 laps and
ended up 16th & dead last.
Men's Madison Final / Results
1. Argentina: 8pts
(Juan Curuchet / Walter Perez)
2. Spain: 7pts
(Joan Llaneras / Antonio Tauler)
3. Russia: 6pts
(Mikhail Ignatyev / Alexei Markov)
One Lap Behind
4, Belgium 17pts
(Iljo Keisse / Kenny De Ketele)
5. Germany: 15pts
(Roger Kluge / Olaf Pollack)
6. Denmark: 14pts
(Michael Moerkoev / Alex Nicki Rasmussen)
7. France: 12pts
(Matthieu Ladagnous / Jerome Neuville)
8. Netherlands: 6pts
(Jens Mouris / Peter Schep)
9. Great Britain: 6pts
(Mark Cavendish / Bradley Wiggins)
10. New Zealand: 5pts
(Greg Henderson / Hayden Roulston)
11. Switzerland: 3pts
(Franco Marvulli / Bruno Risi)
Three Laps Behind
12. Canada: 5pts
(Zachary Bell / Martin Gilbert)
13. Czech Republic: 3pts
(Milan Kadlec / Alois Kankovsky)
14. Italy
(Angelo Ciccone / Fabio Masotti)
15. Ukraine
(Lyubomyr Polatayko / Volodymyr Rybin)
Four Laps Behind
16. United States: 3pts
(Michael Friedman / Bobby Lea)
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