jt_uk

James did well, disappointed either Meares or Vogel didn't take gold. Booooo. I don't want Kenny to win Gold in the sprint but he looks untouchable.

gtrob

The gold/silver race coming down to 2 athletes from the same country, can't be a very common occurrence right?

jt_uk

Despite being a Brit team GB rub me the wrong way, could be that they are sponsored by the evil empire (Sky). Correct me if I'm wrong but you just don't see them collectively performing like this at the worlds etc.

Also why is it the men are so inconsistent, Pervis was way down the pecking order and what happened to Bauge? Is it very difficult to dominate in track cycling compared to track and field for example?

carleton

Totally. I will admit that I did doubt them leading up to this Olympics.


Pervis and Bauge are the old guard. They are from Hoy's era. They are still world class. But, it's time to let the new racers in.

Regarding how Team GB performs at events other than the Olympics:

It was known that Team GB would "train through" World Cup events and the World Championships in an Olympic year. But, you would always see them riding fast in those events, even if they won or not. For this Olympic cycle, they were noticably absent and didn't dominate like they did leading up to the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. This made people (like me) think that either they had lost their magic competitive advantage or the rest of the world quickly copied their formula (i.e. training based on power meter data instead of antiquated programs and "feel".).

I'm thoroughly impressed.

I'm also impressed by Team USA's ladies to finish with Silver again with (what seems to be) not a lot of support. And the rest of Team USA's trackies for that matter.

carleton

So, I haven't seen much of the Olympic racing but I did see a clip of the wreck that Cav caused. I didn't see it in real time or with any context. Anybody got any insight or info on it?

gycho77

I am currently in South Korea and I cannot watch track cycling olympic(US website does not support Korea IP address), because Koreans are not interested in cycling

but everyone is hating Cavendish because of this crash.

Not sure what really happened in this race

Screen Shot 2016-08-17 at 3.11.06 AM.jpg

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/vi...-cyclist-video

Poppit

The judges decided that it was a racing incident, the other riders agreed but it wasn't the best move Cav has ever made. A combination of a move about to go, Cav seeing it and moving down to cover it, the Korean was close behind overlapping wheels and glanced behind just as Cav went so couldn't react to avoid it. Cav caused it though.

brawlo

When you watch the replay, it looks far more sinister than a mere racing incident. It looked like it was supposed to be a hook move that went too far. He didn't even look back to see what happened. He also has an attitude that makes it a believable circumstance as well.

gtrob

If you follow road, there is a pretty famous incident in 2013? at the tour where he basically head butts someone to the ground. Then after he flips out on a reporter asking about it.

So in the context of WHO it was, its seems less accidental. I can see the judges taking it like 'its going to be less controversy to just let it go, then to take a medal from him'. But I bet you if it was the other way around, or if the crash took out Viviani for good, than it would have been different.

brawlo

In real time and during the race, it's understandable to have race incidents brushed off. But when you go and look at that replay and see him look over his shoulder twice before the move, his lack of reaction to the crash, and then as a long stretch, the crash also conveniently taking out Viviani and O'Shea.........hmmm........

tobukog

I'm going to have to give Cav a pass on this one. It was dangerous and unfortunate, but things happen so fast in a race. I didn't see the race, just the gif, but I'm guessing that Cav fanned up track and came back down just as the Korean rider came under him, or perhaps he thought the Korean wouldn't be there by the time he came back down.

A deliberate move to chop another rider (who wasn't in contention) in the hopes of taking down a rival/s seems far fetched to me.

In a race, you use all the senses you have and predict where the other riders will be, but sometimes you just miscalculate. When I'm sitting 3rd wheel in a sprint and I launch, I usually don't look beyond my peripheral vision -- I rely on my senses and the confidence that when I launch I'm doing it gracefully and quickly enough that I'm pulling clear of the riders behind. I'm also expecting the rider in front to not swing way wide if he launches at the same time.

zizou

In slow motion everything always looks so cold and calculated but i'm not buying that it was deliberate. I think a reckless move and i wouldnt be happy with any reckless riding around me but most of the time the riders will get away with it as others did in the race (like Viviani going down on Boudat). Park should probably have been more switched on too - just done a double switch, his front wheel below the rear of Cavendish, plus he was looking back and drifting up at the same time. Both of them would have failed their track accreditation classes!





He accelerated to get out of trouble swung back up to the stayers line and held his line and kept looking forward. How do you want him to react? The idea that he intentionally crashed Park so he could take out 2 of his big rivals is crazy!

1incpa

Here's my take on it: The first time Cavendish looked down, he was looking past Park at the Viviani group. The second time he looked, he was checking on Park and saw him looking down at the Viviani group, so he assumed they both had the same plan. Cavendish went down track, Park went up. Boom! Anybody else getting this? Or am I way off base?
PI

brawlo

Have another look at the footage. It's a hook move that appears to have gone wrong. He was never intending to go right down the track if you look at the line he took. I suspect he miscalculated the Korean's position and hit him instead of hooking him. I have seen it quoted somewhere that he had issue with the Korean following his wheel (why wouldn't you if you're a slower rider and he's a race favourite!)

Anywho, the race is done and dusted I could be right or wrong, but we'll never really know the answer. Two things are for sure, team GB has everyone beat so a new game plan is required by everyone else, and you USA guys need to pick your game up and get some high level track riders. It's been far too long between medals for USA on the cycling track

atbman

British Cycling is funded by Lottery money, not Sky. They have also experienced a massive increase in membership and therefore fees, in the last few years (especially post Beijing/London).

As for Olympic success being more dominant than at the Worlds, the Lottery funding is predicated on Olympic, not Worlds success. However, a cursory glance at the results of the 2016 champs reveals that we won 5 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals, which, strangely, put us at the head of the medals table.

Men: sprint - gold; individual pursuit - bronze; team pursuit - silver; points - gold, madison - gold
Women: team pursuit - bronze; keirin - silver, scratch - gold, omnium - gold.

A truly terrible collective performance, don't you think?

Speaking as a Brit, I'm afraid I feel appallingly smug. And speaking as an adopted Yorkshire man (since 1972) i feel obliged to point out that, if we only include Yorkshire sportsmen and women, Yorkshire finished 6th in the overall medals table.

So there

jt_uk

Sorry mate but I just dont buy that, yeah lottery money funds so much of it but your not telling me sky dont pump money into it for their own ends (advertising, prestige and politics).

Word is that British track cycling receives over £30 million in funding:
Five reasons Great Britain dominated track cycling at Rio Olympics 2016
I would assume around £10m of that comes from lottery funding and minimum £15m is from sky and its numerous commercial partners.

Of course if I'm wrong correct me but your gonna need to research it and post thorough data and sources before I'll change my mind on that.

A good chunk of that lottery money has clearly gone to other sports judging by the the broad success achieved by the British athletes in these games so there is no way enough people are buying lottery tickets to fund track cycling.

700wheel

GB also collected a road TT medal which along with track results certainly helps British Cycling obtain funding.

Poppit

BC has several partnerships e.g. Sky, Fiat, Cervelo, Adidas, etc. Some are associated with the elite development program others aren't. Sky tend to fund general participation such as Skyride rather than elite athletes and I think their partnership is due to end soon. The funding they get from the lottery is around £30.2M over four years, they also get exchequer funding from the government for other things such as general public facility development.

carleton

Regarding Team GB's success, maybe this is part of the "1% marginal gains"

atbman

The Rio Olympic funding cycle from Sport England (not Sky) for all sports was £274,465,541 and the equivalent for the Paralympics was £72,786,552 Source: Current Funding Figures | UK Sport. This gives the breakdown by sport. Not all of that money came from the National Lottery, some came from the Exchequer (govt)

chased

Where can I watch replays? Im in the US and wasn't able to watch the events during the games because I didn't subscribe to "NBC Olympics" channel and am unable to find any replays on YouTube or otherwise.

Thanks, I have been getting frustrated. Specifically looking for sprint related events.

carleton

Good luck. I'm not sure. But, I think NBC put the lock down on any other providers showing "their" content.

700wheel

I believe the IOC owns the rights to all broadcast video.

Here are the Rio men's team sprint finals:

Here is the women's sprint finals:

Poppit

The para cycling is good to watch, especially the tandem racing.

700wheel

What is the status of the Rio track? Is it used for track events or is it abandoned like many other facilities?