Have to say after just watching the highlights of the track cycling, I am awed by our team of cyclists (road and track). As a purely leisure cyclist, I am dumbstruck by the power and commitment they maintain, year after year.
I'm awed by the other sportsmen and women that have also done us proud, but as a team, the cyclists have just blown everyone else away. Can we take their mental attitude and training commitment and apply it to all other sports please? Maybe then our so called national sports may actually start winning something. Footballers and cricketers especially.
Well done.
(Cue slating for picking out one team instead of all others - etc etc)
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if we did this in more sports what else could Team GB achieve??
I just hope that the hype around the success of the whole of Team GB will start to silence critics of the London Olympics and start to get the whole contry behind it.
too many 'jobs for the boys' in athletics.
Too much bureauacracy and politics and spread between this and that body.
Well done British Cycling!
Just read the post from Matchstick Man, and yes, you can see how the hard work and commitment is expected from the very beginning - and that's what I'm talking about. Some of our other sportsmen seem to think that talent and arrogance is enough - it isn't. You don't get anything without bloody hard work, sacrifices and total commitment. My hat is raised in a dandy, yet respectful salute.
Let's hope they cyclists get the recognition they deserve...and maybe we could see a bit of it on the telly please?
Face it, we're great at sports you can do sitting down - rowing, sailing, cycling.
If the track cycling team don't win team of the year at the BBC sports personality awards it will be a travesty after we dominated not only the Olympics but the World Champs as well.
I don't get the connection.
Why does our team winning a good set of medals make spending £9billion (and we know it will end up being more) better?
I was opposed to hosting the Olympics, and still am. Winning medals in China has been nice to see, but it hasn't changed my opinion that hosting it is a huge waste of money.
<dons tin hat and gets behind the filing cabinet>
I wonder if we can make an offer for the Chinese swim centre tho - that is waaay cool.
I know that there is an argument that the money may be better channelled into education etc, but that alone doesn't work. A high profile event inspires for more people.
Autumn66 - a national bid would have been rejected out hand by the IOC. In fact, anything other than a capital city bid would have been rejected. But this has been debated to death.
How do you know that, BDB?
Sydney isn't the capital of Australia, Barcelona isn't the capital of Spain, LA isn't the capital of America.
Why were they acceptable if is has to be the capital?
And sorry if it's going over stuff that's been debated before, but I'd like to know.
I don't think a national olympics has ever been held.
It seems to be impossible to hold all the events in one city anyway - the sailing needs a large-ish bit of water, and I understand the MTB competition for 2012 will be held in the depths of Essex!
BDB - you dried out yet ?
Wilkie - I guess having it be a capital city helps with the long drawn out process of choosing the lucky bid. Straight away you rule out lots of applications that otherwise you'd need time and resource to check out.
probably not Wilks - IOC suggested the terrain wasn't suitable enough so they have to go look for somewhere else.....imho they need to go to the North or South Downs or out to the Chilterns to get a better MTB course
Velodrome is there and the swim centre - so yeah - Manchester is a great venue really, but London-centric government isnt gonna let the flat cap and whippet brigade take the limelight anyway.
And plus - the opening ceremony was crap. Becks and Coronation Street ??
Cougie - took me until late Sunday evening to get warm! I did 4 hours in the rain on the run course with someone too. Then went home - wasn't going to spend the night on the ground after all that. Did you make it back OK?
Good work on the marshalling - thats a hell of a long day for you.
It was a great day. Got me thinking about doing a half next year.
The system is already in place and talent has been spotted. We have copied the Aussies' model of track cycling as we knew it would feed through into the road - you have to race 95%+ on the road to get the skills and fitness to perform on the track - and the talent will out eventually. Aussies who have come through the Golden Age of their system are people like Brad McGee, Stuart O'Grady, Henk Vogels, Graeme Brown, brett Lancaster, Robbie McEwen, Luke Roberts and we are starting to see that now with Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas, Ben Swift, Peter Kennaugh, Jonny Bellis,etc.
Now that we have proved our system works (and is working) Dave Brailsford unveiled his plans earlier this year to put forward a men's professional road team to compete at the highest level and work towards the Tour De France. This requires private funding and there is no guarantee it will work but they don't want to put our brightest charges into the pressure cooker environment that is the European scene. They want complete autonomy over them and they can then start to recruit the guys who haven't come through the system but who are still world class - David Millar, Daniel Martin, Dan Lloyd, Dan Fleeman, Roger Hammond, Jez Hunt,etc. This would allow them to have greater control over riders like Cavendish and Wiggins and Thomas,etc who have to ride for their sponsors first and National/Olympic duties take a back seat.
Cycling wise we're on the cusp of greatness.....
Seeing as how you lot are interested in the cycling -
British Cycling set a 10 year plan in place back in 2002 and aimed to be the number one ranked nation on the track in 2012 and ranked in the top 12 in road cycling. The guffaws and sniggers from us club cyclists could be heard from far and wide but now we're already there 4 years ahead of schedule.........
If you think Athletics can turn things around in less than 48 months then think again, British Cycling have already started their 2012 programmes 6 years ago and I've no doubt that their 2016 plans are already well set up.
With Jason Kenny taking a Gold and Silver at only 20 yrs old, Steven Burke taking bronze at Under 23 age and with Geraint Thomas and Ed Clancy both at 22 and 23 taking gold in the Team Pursuit then you can see who will be the nucleus of the next generation already. Add in Cavendish at 23 being the worlds best road sprinter with 4 stages of the Tour this year and things are only going to get better.
Like Paul Manning said about him and Bradley Wiggins in the Team Pursuit - they've been there trying for Gold since Sydney - things don't happen overnight: it's taken them over 8 years to won that particular Gold medal.
Ta BDB - I can reccomend the Bala Middle distance event - thats a great one. Very piratey too.