Britain Sets sights On Beijing Gold After Track Medal Bonanza
Brits set sights on Beijing after track medal bonanza
by Justin Davis
MANCHESTER, England, March 30, 2008 (AFP) - If Britain go on to fulfill expectations by dominating the track events at this year’s Olympics, a lot of their success will be down to the tiniest of details - and a lot of hard work.
Britain finished way ahead of their future rivals in Beijing with a total of 11 medals and nine gold from the total of 54 on offer on the final day of the world track cycling championships here Sunday.
Closest rivals the Netherlands finished second on three gold and eight in total, having claimed two titles on the final day through Eleonora van Dijk in the scratch and Teun Mulder in the men’s kilometre.
Victoria Pendleton failed to win a third gold when she lost her keirin title to American Jennie Reed in the competition’s final race, but that will seem like a blip when looking at the hosts’ almost perfect scorecard.
Wins in five of the men’s and four from the women’s events - in both the speed and endurance events - bode well for Beijing.
It only just surpassed the Brits’ record seven golds from 17 golds in Mallorca last year, leaving Scotland’s Chris Hoy stunned.
“I think a lot of people thought that after last year the only way was down from seven golds. So to win nine is fantastic,” Hoy said after becoming the first man since Jens Fiedler in 1999 to successfully defend a keirin crown.
Despite the exploits of Bradley Wiggins, who won three golds from the individual and new world record-setting team pursuit and the Madison with Mark Cavendish, Hoy was arguably the big star of the five-day competition.
The 32-year-old from Edinburgh ended the hosts’ 54-year wait to regain the coveted sprint title when he beat defending champion Theo Bos and French ace Kevin Sireau on his way to the final.
Once there, the big Scot was unbeatable and won gold to become the first British sprint champion since professional Reginald Harris and amateur Cyril Peacock, both of whom triumphed in 1954.
Hoy’s victory was all the more impressive as he had only concentrated fully on the sprint this year having dropped the kilometre when it was dropped from the Olympics in the wake of his gold in Athens.
“To finish with two golds and a silver is just phenomenal. I didn’t expect to win two golds,” added Hoy, who also helped the hosts to silver in the team sprint behind France.
Hoy - and many of his team-mates - have stockpiled a mass of confidence ahead of the well-earned rest that will precede some intense training sessions for the Beijing Games.
But while paying tribute to the unseen employees of British cycling’s successful track programme, he was quick to warn of a potential backlash.
“It’s a huge mistake to underestimate your opponents. If you think they’re just going to crawl away under a bush and quiver till Beijing then you’re wrong,” he said.
“I’d like to think I completely destroyed them, but that’s not the case at all. They’ll be going away now, licking their wounds and coming back with even more determination.”
Hoy said the British team’s record championships wasn’t just down to the thousands of hours spent in the gym and on the track.
“It’s years of hard work, planning and attention to details. Every possible area we can we’re trying to maximize,” he added.
“There’s so many people working behind the scenes. We’ve got people who are world class in each of the jobs they have and I believe that’s the significant difference between us and the other nations at the moment.”
One of Britain’s top coaches Shane Sutton admitted Britain had raised the bar considerably. “We’re now the hunted,” he said.
“I think it will be great to go there (Beijing) with the confidence they’ll have. We’re not going to have the same amount of success (as at Manchester) but if we can supercede what we did in Athens we’ll be happy.”
In Athens, Britain’s men collected all four of their medals, with gold coming from Hoy and Wiggins (pursuit).
Australia dominated in Greece with nine medals and five gold, but left Manchester with only a silver and three bronze.
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