The fourth member of the team was of course Sir Bradley Wiggins, who said he would not be competing in Tokyo: “My kids need a proper dad in their lives”.
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Jinjie Gong and Tianshi Zhong laid down their credentials for a first-ever Chinese cycling gold by posting a new Olympic benchmark in qualifying and then bettered that with a world record of 31.928sec in the heats.
Colne’s Steven Burke helped Team GB win the team pursuit last night, as Sir Bradley Wiggins confirmed himself as the most decorated British Olympian of all time.
After topping the cycling medal table at London 2012, much was expected of Great Britain at this Games, and none more so than Bradley Wiggins.
“Ed and Burkey are two of the most underrated athletes I’ve ever raced with”, he said.
“It’ll be a nice end to my career, back where I was born, back where it started”.
If the road is freedom, the track is claustrophobia.
Wiggins, 36, has five golds, one silver and two bronzes to surpass fellow cyclist Sir Chris Hoy’s tally of seven.
The thought of the early morning training is enough to discourage any such folly. “I don’t see what evidence they can have, other than someone coming in and saying “he said this to me, he said that”, he added.
“He wants to come back”, Wiggins said.
James’ silver in Rio came after a torrid two-year spell that saw her overcome serious knee and shoulder injuries and a cancer scare.
He does not use the word legacy but he feels he has left his mark on the sport he loves. “I’m happy and content with everything I’ve achieved”.
“But I understand more than anyone that there are two sides to every story”. “I realised what it took and never underestimated it for one minute”.
Another major surprise was Sweden pulling off quite the feat by knocking out the Olympic specialists and defending champions U.S. in the women’s football.
THE men’s 4000m team pursuit is the blue riband event of the track cycling program and after winning it for the third Olympics in a row Great Britain was always going to celebrate accordingly.
Wiggins is an inspiration for the 21-year-old.
“Bradley is a freak of nature, at the end of the day”, British teammate Owain Doull said.
“I knew it would take a world record to win and it did”.
Wiggins believes British cycling is in good hands even without his considerable presence.
“(It is) extra special compared to London, because it’s not many who defend an Olympic title.
The relationship with Team Sky, with whom he won his Tour title, would become strained as Chris Froome’s emergence pushed him to the sidelines, but he won the World Championships time trial title in 2014 before moving back to track racing and breaking the gruelling one-hour record. Doull eventually grabbed a British flag and flew it high in the air, another victory in a sport his nation has come to dominate.
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Anne Adams-King, chief executive officer at Welsh Cycling, added: “On behalf of Welsh Cycling, I would like to congratulate Elinor on her gold medal, alongside Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell Shand and Katie Archibald”.
