August 02, 2012 (London, UK) – Unlike many venues where the “Olympic Family” didn’t show up, there wasn’t a vacant seat available as the Brits came out, hoping for two gold medals. They sure got what they wanted from the men’s team as Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes treated Britain’s Prime Minister and the Royal Family to a golden evening and a new world record to boot.

The Siberian pine velodrome is wickedly fast. Hoy and company broke the world record in their qualifying heat and then in the final when they blasted through 750 metres in 42.600 seconds for an average speed of 63.380 kph. France’s team of Gregory Bauge, Kevin Sireau and Michael D’almeida, bridesmaids to the Brits for years, settled for silver in 43.013 while Germany took the bronze in 43.209. Australia has had an after-ran presence so far on the men’s side and placed fourth in 43.385.

During the medal ceremony a visibly moved Hoy could not sing the national anthem. Afterwards he explained how the historic evening – this brings his total Olympic medal count to five – came to be. “We knew it was possible. This didn’t just come out of the blue, but we knew if we kept it together, we had to have the best possible race. It’s easier said than done. We had an excellent training camp in Newport. We had the full support of the team, and we nailed it.”

Teammate Kenny added, “This one is unbelievable. It’s great, isn’t it? I cannot believe how good things went here today. There are a few guys here who are absolutely flying, we knew it was going to be a really close competition. This was probably the closest sprint competition there’s ever been.”

Women’s Team Sprint – China Nearly Walks Out

World records were the order of the evening for the women too as Team GB’s Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish flew to a 32.526 in their qualifier over 500 metres. Within minutes the Chinese duo of Jinje Gong and Shuang Guo had lowered that time to 32.447.

In the end though, officials relegated both teams for contravening rules in the final. Pendleton and Varnish were relegated to eighth place after a blistering final against the Ukraine because they switched too early out of the area where cyclists can switch spots. China too was relegated from the gold medal position to silver, but the only discrepancy that cameras replayed was a slight dip of  a wheel onto the light blue apron running below just below the track. Both teams protested but to no avail.

The track program ground to a halt as protests were argued but in the end the German team of Kristina Vogel and Miriam Walte took gold in 32.798, as China had to settle for the silver and were not given a time. The Australian duo of veteran Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch saved the day for Australian cyclists with the bronze in 32.727.

The Chinese would not comment on the situation while Germany was overjoyed. Vogel said, “We really could not believe it when we saw it on the screen that we were Olympic champions. It’s amazing. It’s both weird and amazing.”

Meares thanked her teammate. “I’m so proud of Kaarle because this her first Games. She is under a lot of pressure and to pick up a bronze in her first event, I was really pleased I was out there with her.”

Results

Men’s Team Sprint

Qualifications

1. Great Britain 0:43.065
Philip Hindes
Chris Hoy
Jason Kenny

2. France 0:43.097
Gregory Bauge
Michael D’Almeida
Kevin Sireau

3. Australia 0:43.377
Matthew Glaetzer
Shane Perkins
Scott Sunderland

4. Russia 0:43.681
Sergey Borisov
Denis Dmitriev
Sergey Kucherov

5. Germany 0:43.710
Rene Enders
Robert Forstemann
Maximilian Levy

6. China 0:43.751
Cheng Changsong
Zhang Lei
Zhang Miao

7. New Zealand 0:44.175
Edward Dawkins
Ethan Mitchell
Simon van Velthooven

8. Japan 0:44.324
Seiichiro Nakagawa
Yudai Nitta
Kazunari Watanabe

9. Venezuela 0:44.654
Hersony Canelon
Cesar Marcano
Angel Pulgar

10. Poland 0:44.712
Maciej Bielecki
Kamil Kuczynski
Damian Zielinski

Round 1
Heat 1
1. Germany 0:43.178
Rene Enders
Robert Forstemann
Maximilian Levy

2. Russia 0:43.909
Sergey Borisov
Denis Dmitriev
Sergey Kucherov

Heat 2
1. Australia 0:43.261
Matthew Glaetzer
Shane Perkins
Scott Sunderland

2. China 0:43.505
Cheng Changsong
Zhang Lei
Zhang Miao

Heat 3
1. France 0:42.991
Gregory Bauge
Michael D’Almeida
Kevin Sireau

2. New Zealand 0:43.495
Edward Dawkins
Ethan Mitchell
Simon van Velthooven

Heat 4
1. Great Britain 0:42.747
Philip Hindes
Chris Hoy
Jason Kenny

2. Japan 0:43.964
Seiichiro Nakagawa
Yudai Nitta
Kazunari Watanabe

For Gold
1. Great Britain 0:42.600
Philip Hindes
Chris Hoy
Jason Kenny

2. France 0:43.013
Gregory Bauge
Michael D’Almeida
Kevin Sireau

For Bronze
3. Germany 0:43.209
Rene Enders
Robert Forstemann
Maximilian Levy

4. Australia 0:43.355
Matthew Glaetzer
Shane Perkins
Scott Sunderland

Men’s Team Pursuit

Qualifications

1. Great Britain 3:52.499
Edward Clancy
Geraint Thomas
Steven Burke
Peter Kennaugh

2. Australia 3:55.694
Jack Bobridge
Glenn O’Shea
Rohan Dennis
Michael Hepburn

3. New Zealand 3:57.607
Sam Bewley
Westley Gough
Marc Ryan
Jesse Sergent

4. Denmark 3:58.298
Lasse Norman Hansen
Michael Morkov
Rasmus Christian Quaade
Casper von Folsach

5. Russia 3:59.264
Evgeny Kovalev
Ivan Kovalev
Alexey Markov
Alexander Serov

6. Spain 4:02.113
Pablo Aitor Bernal Rosique
Sebastian Mora Vedri
David Muntaner Juaneda
Albert Torres Barcelo

7. Colombia 4:03.712
Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal
Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas
Arles Antonio Castro Laverde
Weimar Alfonso Roldan Ortiz

8. Netherlands 4:03.818
Levi Heimans
Jenning Huizenga
Wim Stroetinga
Tim Veldt

9. Belgium 4:04.053
Gijs van Hoecke
Dominique Cornu
Jonathan Dufrasne
Kenny de Ketele

10. Korea 4:07.210
Seung Woo Choi
Sun Jae Jang
Keon Woo Park
Seonho Park

Women’s Team Sprint

Qualifications

1. China 0:32.447
Gong Jinjie
Guo Shuang

2. Great Britain 0:32.526
Victoria Pendleton
Jessica Varnish

3. Germany 0:32.630
Kristina Vogel
Miriam Welte

4. Australia 0:32.825
Kaarle McCulloch
Anna Meares

5. Netherlands 0:33.253
Yvonne Hijgenaar
Willy Kanis

6. France 0:33.638
Sandie Clair
Virginie Cueff

7. Ukraine 0:33.708
Lyubov Shulika
Olena Tsyos

8. Venezuela 0:34.320
Daniela Grelui Larreal
Mariaesthela Vilera

9. Korea 0:34.636
Lee Eun Ji
Lee Hyejin

10. Colombia 0:34.870
Diana Maria Garcia Orrego
Juliana Gaviria Rendon

Heat 1
1. Australia 0:32.806
Kaarle McCulloch
Anna Meares

2. Netherlands 0:33.090
Yvonne Hijgenaar
Willy Kanis

Heat 2
1. Germany 0:32.701
Kristina Vogel
Miriam Welte
2. France 0:33.707
Sandie Clair
Virginie Cueff

Heat 3
1. Ukraine 0:33.620
Lyubov Shulika
Olena Tsyos
2. Great Britain REL
Victoria Pendleton
Jessica Varnish

Heat 4
1. China 0:32.422
Gong Jinjie
Guo Shuang
2. Venezuela 0:34.415
Daniela Grelui Larreal
Mariaesthela Vilera

For Gold
1. Germany 0:32.798
Kristina Vogel
Miriam Welte
2. China REL
Gong Jinjie
Guo Shuang

For Bronze
3. Australia 0:32.727
Kaarle McCulloch
Anna Meares
4. Ukraine 0:33.491
Lyubov Shulika
Olena Tsyos