A Cooke, an Unlikely Conquistador, a Swiss Freight Train, and an American Heroine
It sounds like the beginning of an extremely tacky joke, but the road events were each won by one of the above. Great Britain's Nicole Cooke took the top spot during a deluge in the women's road race, while the least decorated of the Spanish five-some, Samuel Sanchez, won the men's road race and attained something that no countryman has ever laid claim to, a gold medal.
In the Individual Time Trial, a current and a former World Champion in Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) and America's Kristin Armstrong proved to be their weight in gold.
But perhaps just as impressive as Cancellara's gold medal ride was the effort of Levi Leipheimer (USA) in the time trial. Absent of world-class competition for some time because of his professional team's exclusion from the Tour de France, Leipheimer reaffirmed his position among the world's elite by winning bronze.
God Save The Queen
Great Britain may have turned Hong Kong back over to China in 1997, but their track team certainly looked right at home at the Laoshan velodrome taking 12 medals and setting a world record.
Chris Hoy led the way with three gold medals (Men's sprints, Men's team sprints, and keirin) while Bradley Wiggins contributed two golds of his own (Individual Pursuit, and Team Pursuit with Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, and Thomas Geraint). Wiggins had the opportunity to match Hoy's three golds, but Wiggins and Madison partner Mark Cavendish failed to make the finals.It remains to be seen whether Cavendish's quick turn around from participating [and excelling] in the Tour de France was responsible for their downfall, but it ultimately may have contributed to the inability of the reigning World Champions to contest for a medal.
Victoria Pendleton and Rebecca Romero also won gold for the British Empire in the Women's sprints and Individual Pursuit, respectively.
Great Britain's domination surely has the track cycling world shuddering at the thought of what awaits them in London in 2012.
Other Olympic Champions on the track include the Netherlands' 21-year old sensation Marianne Vos (Women's Points Race), Spain's Joan Llaneras (Men's Points Race), and Argentina's Juan Esteban Curuchet and Walter Fernando Perez (Madison).
If you are a fan of US Track Cycling then you couldn't have been more disappointed in these Olympics. The team's controversial [and some might say prima-donnaish] arrival in Beijing probably left most fans wondering if their focus wasn't more on surviving the Games of the 29th Olympiad rather than competing in them. That point couldn't have been driven home anymore poignantly than when I read that some of our track athletes continued to wear their filtrating masks anytime they were outside the velodrome.
I know athletes are creatures of habit, meticulous in our preparations [at times to the point of crippling compulsiveness], and even superstitious. Each also has a choice in deciding what is to their athletic benefit. But there also comes a time when champions are not only able to adapt to their surrounding environment, but able to overcome them as well [even if some of those distractions were better reserved for tabloid fodder].
The "X" in BMX
For those who were skeptical about another extreme sport invading the Olympics, you may have missed out on the most exciting event not only in cycling but for the whole of the Olympic Games.
Latvia's Maris Strombergs was as steady as a metronome in winning gold, but the same could be said for the American pair of Mike Day and Donny Robinson who finished in second and third.
In the women's event, France's mountain bike legend Anne-Caroline Chausson took the gold, but she was seriously challenged throughout the entire competition by countrywoman Laetitia le Corguille (silver), America's Jill Kitner (bronze) who is a former World Champion in her own right, and track sprint champion Shanaze Reade (Great Britain).
The Other Spitz and Hope For France
Mountain biking capped off the cycling events at the Beijing Olympic Games. Because of the Phelps-ian drama of eclipsing Mark Spitz's record of 7 gold medals in a single Olympics, few knew of the other Spitz competing in these Games.
In the women's cross country race, Germany's 36-year old Sabine Spitz took home gold. America's hopes for a medal, Mary McConneloug and Georgia Gould, would come in 7th and 8th.
For the men, cycling hungry France would finish 1-2 with Julien Absalon claiming the top spot over Jean-Christophe Peraud.
Photos: Getty Images (first, second, fourth); Xinhua (third, fifth, sixth)
Interesting that two of the three medalists on the time trial podium were among the 23 riders on the UCI's "questionable" doping list at the start of the season.
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