Britain Smashes Team Pursuit World Record On Way To Gold
by Justin Davis
BEIJING, Aug 18, 2008 (AFP) - Britain smashed their own world record in a time of 3min 53.314sec to end a 100-year wait for Olympic team pursuit gold here on Monday.
Denmark claimed the silver medal, their first at the Olympics since a bronze at Barcelona in 1992, while New Zealand beat Oceania rivals and defending Olympic champions Australia to claim the bronze.
The British quartet of Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Paul Manning and Geraint Thomas produced a disciplined display of racing over 4000 metres to leave their Danish rivals with no chance.
Denmark began well but faded in the closing stages and eventually finished nearly seven seconds behind in a time of 4:00.040.
Wiggins, who successfully defended his individual pursuit crown on Saturday, now has three gold and six medals in total from three Games, confirming his status as Britain’s most decorated Olympic cyclist.
The 27-year-old from London will aim for a third gold in Beijing when he pairs up with Mark Cavendish in Tuesday’s Madison race.
But Wiggins said he is still coming to terms with claiming Britain’s first gold in 100 years.
“I’m not really thinking about tomorrow to be honest. This is just a relief more than anything else,” he said.
“We knew we were going to win, but to actually do it while you’re under a bit of pressure is just so great.”
With three finals - the men’s and women’s sprint and the men’s Madison - closing the competition Tuesday and with Britain favourites in all of them, their gold medal tally is bulging.
Of the seven finals held so far, Britain have won five and claimed nine of the 21 medals awarded.
Wiggins admitted he had no idea they had it in them to break their own world record, set when qualifying for the final in a time of 3:55.202, by two seconds.
“We didn’t realize what kind of time we had. We thought we might beat the record, but not by three seconds,” said the Englishman, referring to the world mark of 3:56.322 set in the world championships in March.
“We knew the gold wasn’t ours by right and that we had to give our best performance.”
England’s Paul Manning admitted the victory was sweeter than being the fastest in the world.
“We gave 100 percent and that’s what you get. To me the medal is more important than the record,” said Manning, one of the riders, along with Wiggins, who got the bronze in Sydney in 2000 and silver in Athens.
“I got bronze in Sydney and silver in Athens. Gold is what we wanted.”
Photo by: CorVos Pro
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