Argentina Wins Men Madison Beijing Olympic Gold
by Justin Davis
BEIJING, Aug 19, 2008 (AFP) - Argentina’s Juan Curuchet and Walter Perez grabbed Olympic gold in the men’s Madison here Tuesday when all three medals were decided on the last lap’s 10th and final sprint.
Spain finished second to take the silver with Russia winning the bronze.
Perez said the victory was a going-away present for Curuchet, who is retiring after the Games.
“I promised to give a gift to Juan,” Perez said. “It’s his last race, and I promised a medal. I lost seven kilograms. I made a big effort to reach this race in good form.”
Curuchet was delighted with the golden send-off.
“This is a great result for us,” he said of Argentina’s first gold in Beijing.
“This is my last race, and I wanted to go out with a medal.”
Britain’s pursuit and team pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins, aiming for a record-breaking third gold medal of the Beijing Games, was never in contention with teammate Mark Cavendish.
Argentina’s pairing were a constant threat for their rivals in the 50km, 200-lap race where points can be won at intermediate sprints.
Argentina finished with only eight points, but that was enough to keep Spain, on seven, down in second place.
Russia finished with six as all the other teams, including Britain, finished variously with more points but crucially a lap behind the podium finishers.
Argentina took a full five points for winning the third sprint, and after the fourth sprint they managed to gain a lap on the field.
“We had a good strategy with gaining a lap and staying on the lap,”
Curuchet said.
Spain and Russia then went on to lap the field, allowing them a cushion.
It means Spain’s former seven-time world champion Joan Llaneras, who won the points race, will go home with a silver and a gold. The 39-year-old previously won silver in Athens and gold in Sydney, both from the points race.
He, too, is calling it a career.
“I said to my wife, ‘I suffered a lot,’” he said. “This was the last race of my career. Maybe I should rethink about the decision, but it is final.”
Llaneras and teammate Antonio Tauler were especially pleased since they were only thrown together as a team after Llaneras’s former partner, Carles Torrent, was hurt in a race.
“It’s the first time we race together,” Llaneras said. “We have only trained together a couple of times. Carles Torrent fell in a race in Portugal and broke his leg. Only three weeks ago, Tony knew he was going to do the Madison.”
Britain finished way down the field. It meant that Wiggins will not become the Olympics’ all-time leading medals winner from track cycling.
Wiggins won his sixth Olympic medal, a gold, from the team pursuit on Monday to equal the all-time number of medals won in track - previously held by American Burton Downing, who won all six of his medals at St Louis in 1904.
Photo By: CorVos Pro
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