Several riders in Rio have grumbled about Great Britain’s cycling hegemony for the past three Olympics.
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Team GB’s golden couple Jason Kenny and Laura Trott look forward to getting away from the glare of the Games after a glittering Olympics.
Trott-who won two golds in London in 2012-previously won gold in the team pursuit in Rio. Holland were next on the medal table with one gold and one silver. “This [Rio 2016] was our one hurdle to get out of the way”. Ciara Horne and reserve Ryan Owens did not race.
Australian cycling great Anna Meares has moved to clarify her comments about another Olympics of British track cycling domination.
Germany’s Vogel, who is the reigning world champion, has questioned the Brits’ success, while French sprint coach Laurent Gane has also attempted to raise eyebrows.
As a child Laura suffered with asthma but the 24-year-old said that it “spurred her on rather hindered” her when she made a decision to devote herself to cycling.
But what else do we know of the sporting pair?
“It’s proved it was extremely successful”.
“Being able to train on Cheshire peaks and plains is a real boost – it’s ideal territory for them – and I congratulate Laura and Jason on their huge successes”.
Both had Royal Mail pillar boxes painted gold in their home towns, although Trott received two.
Third time lucky and Kenny, so often calm and relaxed, hit the front early, out-pacing the field to emulate Sir Chris Hoy’s achievement of six Olympic golds and three at one Games.
The 28-year-old now has the same Olympic medal tally as Hoy.
“Not bad is it, 10 medals”, beamed Kenny.
The Netherlands’ Matthijs Bucli came through to take the silver, with Malaysia’s Azizulhasni Awang winning the bronze.
They’re the king and queen of Olympic track cycling – and nobody at Rio 2016 had any way of dethroning them.
Fortunately the officials were prepared to accept the assistance.
“They’re scratching their heads, thinking ‘how did they do it?'”, he said.
“I’m just so happy”, Trott told the BBC. It was a big call in hindsight, but we didn’t have anything to lose. After 2012 we named a leisure centre after him, where do you go from there? “He thanked me for providing the footage”.
Usually the riders responsible are disqualified, but on Tuesday, after minutes of tense deliberation, the race was restarted with all six cyclists.
However, commentators were dumbfounded when the race was stopped for a second time after Germany’s Joachim Eilers appeared to overlap the derny again.
Kenny and Trott may be more obviously products of the system than their predecessors, but they are likely to be just as successful.
British Olympic Association chief executive Bill Sweeney said: “We said we believed this to be our most talented Team GB squad”.
The 2020 Summer Games are scheduled for Tokyo.
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Dyer said: “What we need to do (is) just come back and be better”.
