It is Wednesday August 20th the second full day of my return from became an excellent mini trip to London despite not being able to fulfil original intentions, I am having difficulty in getting going again after an interrupted night.
Yesterday I enjoyed a good sleep with little interruption on Monday and arose early to watch the Olympics as I have been doing since the British sportsmen and women commenced their amazing series of winning achievements. I have delayed recording the experiences because of time constraints in a situation where I wanted to get out and about as much as I could. On return I had noted that it had rained heavily but it was only yesterday that I found out the extent of the raining while away and that it was necessary to cancel sporting events across the region from the 20 20 international at the Riverside today to the racing at York. The explanation for autumnal changeable wet and cold weather over the past two summers is the movement of the gulf stream south. Usually it sits above the British Isle and northern Europe so that we can enjoy the warmer and sunnier weather from the south. Alas this has not been the situation and there is no immediate prospect of change before the end of the month making August a washout.
My energy level had been good over the morning as I completed writing while giving full attention to the Olympics. And then I needed to shop and go to the bank to pay in the cheques from Inland Revenue and Premium Bonds. In the evening there was a an excitingly close Pro 40 cricket match at Nottingham involving Durham. This was also rain affected reducing the length of the Durham inning twice so that using the formula which applies in this competition Nottingham was asked to score 152 fro 25 overs almost a 20 20 game where such totals are possible and as with Durham had a good start but hen one of their key players injured himself and the rest collapsed to give Durham a surprising and unimportant win, only their second in four games, placing then in mid table and with the three teams above them with only two more points and played an additional game, so there is all still to play for. It was good to see the new flood lights in operation and which are the best in the UK.
And now to the Olympic story 2008.
Eight of the sixteen gold medals have been won through cycling with seven of these on the track and one on the road, the first by Nicole Cooke(1) the 25 year old from Wick in Glamorgan, achieving success after her disappointment at the age of 21 at the last Games in Athens. One of the treats of the latest Computer TV Technology is that in addition to having a constantly updated list of British Medal winners it is possible to watch full screen video's of the event, the medal ceremony and interviews including those with parents who in almost all instances will have committed themselves to supporting with help in travel, special diet, facilities and constant support. The medal was well earned with having to race up and down mountains as well as through the streets of the capital for over three and a half hours. The feature of the rest was managing to keep close to those who attempted to break away and that in the closing moments she momentarily lost touch before powering through to win.
Her victory is rightly celebrated and her parents appropriate honoured but it is worth reminding that after winning her first national tile at 16 years and being a world junior champion she turned professional and presently lives in in Lugano, rides for a Swiss based team and speak fluent Italian, She has women major races throughout Europe and was rated the world's number road cyclist. However being the Olympic Champion is the one which matters to most sporting athletes
It is also important to remember that throughout the history of the games which were re-established, some 100 years ago, only 200 British men and women have won the gold medal, and with a quarter of these (55) achieved at the 2008 London games when there were only some twenty nations competing and participation by genuine amateurs. In 1900 we won 14 in Paris and then a similar number in Antwerp in 1920. Theer were 11 in Sydney 2000 and 10 in Stockholm 1912, which means that sine 1920 only once were more than ten gold medals achieved. At the USA games in Alabama we only one won.
The second set of cycling Medals was won in the men's sprint team where three riders each ride a lap of the track against another team doing similar, similar to the relay on the athletics track except that they must also ride together for the first lap and then two for the second. The winning margin was only half a second on the final race which lasted just over 41 seconds. Such is the contrast between performers Two of the three were to win further medals but the man who got the team off into a their leading position was Jamie Staff (2). Also 25 years from Ashford Kent he started on a BMX bike when he was nine years of age and he took up the sport winning everything from World Championship downwards. Deciding that he wanted an Olympic medal, in 2001 when the BMX bicycle was not an Olympic Sport he switched to track cycling qualifying for the British Team at his first attempt. He has won gold with the British Team in the World Championships in two events 2002 and 2004.
The third member of the Gold Medal team Jason Kenny (3) who is one of the youngest members of the British team at the age of 22 from Bolton and who previous has only represented and the European Level under 23's so it is an extraordinary achievement to have one Gold Medal as part of the sprint team and then run Chris Hoy a close second to win the individual sprint silver. He is destined for great things in the future world championships and 2012 Olympics.
The third cycling medal was an individual medal by Bradley Wiggins(4) in the individual pursuit competition. Winner in Athens 2004 he repeated his success in 4000 metre pursuit race having achieved a Bronze at the Sydney Olympics in the team pursuit, He also won a silver and a bronze in Athens. He is now 28 years of age and was born in Belgium, his father a professional cyclists who then moved to London, He turned professional in 2001 with the British Road Racing team, moving to the French Teams and riding in the Tour De France 2006 and 2007. He received an OBE in 2004 for his contribution to British Sport he won three world championship medals in 2008. Bradley won a second gold medal in Beijing as part of the British team pursuit team
The next Gold Medallist to mention is Chris Hoy(5) one of Scotland's foremost athletes who rowed and came second in the British Championship in 1993 and Rugby at school. A university graduate in Sports science he had been awarded two honary doctorates, As with Wiggins he commenced on the BMX bicycle. Before Beijing he has achieved recognition on and of the track winning Gold in Athens in 2004 in 1km time trial and has nine world gold medals. Chris was part of the trio of riders who won the team Sprint. He won the individual Sprint against a fellow Team Member and also the Keirin, the Japanese originated race in which six to eighth riders jostle for position behind a motorcycle before breaking into a sprint when the motor cycle breaks off about a couple of laps before the end of the race. At the age of 32 Chris is expected to retire having been appointed an ambassador for the London Olympics and where a Scottish Velodome being built for the 1014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow is being built for him. Given that he already has an MBE and is the British person to win three Olympic Medals at the same games and with four from four different events there is already expectation that he will receive knighthood for his contribution.
The sixth Cyclist Gold Medal winner Rebecca Romero was raised in Wallington, but long after my own childhood having a Spanish father and English mother and attending Wallington High School which I used to pass on my way to the John Fisher School and which was then the Girl's Grammar School. She also has University degrees in English and in Sport's science and a postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Communication. Aged now 28 she developed an interest in rowing and in the Athens Games won a silver medal in the four sculls. And then was part of the team which won the World sculls fours in 2005. Having a back injury she retired from rowing in 2006 and took up track cycling quickly making progress in endurance events. She then won silver medal in the 2006 World Cup track competition in the team pursuit losing to the same British opponent who she beat in Beijing, She obtained a silver in the World cycling event in 2007 and then Gold in the 2008 world championships and a second medal as part of the team pursuit team. She is the first British women two have competed at the Summer Olympic games in two sports and only the second woman to do so from any country.
In addition to Bradley Wiggins there were three others who won Gold Medals as part of the British team pursuit team. Paul Manning(7) aged 24 from Sutton Coldfield is a British professional cyclist who has represented in two previous Olympic games winning bronze and then silver and who has won two Golds at the Commonwealth games. Geraint Thomas (8) from Whitchurch area of Cardiff was born in Wales and at 22 is one of the younger member who can hope to compete in London and after. He became the youngest rider in the 2007 Tour de France, deciding not to race in the Tour in 2008 in order to prepare for the Olympics. The team broke the world record in the heats and again in the final. He has won gold medals in the World Championships 2007 and 2008. The fourth member of the team is Ed Clancy (9) born in Barnsley Yorkshire his home is now Newton Le Willows in Lancashire. A professional cyclist aged 23 he was part of the 2008 World Championship winning team and is another good prospect for London 2012.
The third female cycling Gold Medallist was the last success Victoria Pendleton (10 born Stotfold, Bedfordshire and now aged 28 years Although she showed early promise as a cyclist being spotted by a national coach at the age of nine she decided to first concentrate on her education, gaining a degree in Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle. Although she commenced cycling again at national level and went to the 2004 Olympic Games it was not until 2005 that she won her first Gold Medal in the World Championships and then two Gold Medals in 2008. She was much affected by not winning a medal at Athens and has been greatly helped by the team of specialist appointed to help the British team, especially the psychiatrist who was the first person she hugged after winning.
A second Road Racing medal was won by a British Athlete, this occasion a silver by Brenda Pooley (11) aged 26 from Wandsworth London and a Cambridge graduate, in the Road Race Time Trial and event which lasts just over half an hour of flat out cycling. She was originally a runner but took up cycling after an injury. She has become a professional cyclist living in Switzerland where continues her studies working for a Doctorate in soil Engineering.
Ross Edgar (12) was the runner up to Chris Hoy in the Keirin final. Aged 25 and born and lives at Newmarket Suffolk but has represented Scotland at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Runner up to Rebecca Romero, Wendy Houvenagel (nee McClean 13) aged 24 and born and brought up in Upperlands County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. A member of the successful Team Pursuit team at the world championship in 2008. She studied Dentistry at the University of Dundee she joined the RAF after graduation and reached the rank of squadron leader as a Dentist but is not a reservist. She only took up cycling in 2007 having not ridden a bike since leaving school which makes her rise to an Olympic Medal that much more extraordinary.
Chris Newton (14) 33 from Middlesbrough in the North East, was the oldest member of the team to win a medal, bronze in in the points race. He has had an outstanding career as a road and track racer, a university graduate and a graphic designer by trade. His career commence din 1992 when he was fourth in the World Junior team pursuit willing two British road races a year later. He represented GB a year later and won first prizes in competitions in Europe. In 2002 he won a Gold in the World Championship points race subsequently winning Golds in the World Championships and World Cup. He broke a collarbone early in 2008 which prevented participation in the World Championships and in his preparations for the Olympic. Steven Burke (15) also won an unexpected bronze medal at the age of 20 and improving upon his best performance by 11 seconds in the 4000 metre individual pursuit. Steven who comes from Burnley in Lancashire came to the fore as a Junior in 2005 and the Under 23's level in 2006 winning senior Gold Medals in the 2007 National Championships. He is therefore another bright prospect for 2012.
This not just proved to be the most successful British Cycling team at any championships ever, but the most successful team in the world ever. Therefore considerable credit must go to the management and technical support services from the designer of the wear, headgear and above all the bicycles tailored to individual competitors and competitions. Many have reach their peak age and it must be hoped that the majority will continue to 2012 unless of course better competitors emerge between now and then when the younger ones should be given their opportunity.
This is also not the end of British Cycling success at the 2008 Olympics as we have the world female BMX champion still performing. More of that in the final round up.
Yesterday I enjoyed a good sleep with little interruption on Monday and arose early to watch the Olympics as I have been doing since the British sportsmen and women commenced their amazing series of winning achievements. I have delayed recording the experiences because of time constraints in a situation where I wanted to get out and about as much as I could. On return I had noted that it had rained heavily but it was only yesterday that I found out the extent of the raining while away and that it was necessary to cancel sporting events across the region from the 20 20 international at the Riverside today to the racing at York. The explanation for autumnal changeable wet and cold weather over the past two summers is the movement of the gulf stream south. Usually it sits above the British Isle and northern Europe so that we can enjoy the warmer and sunnier weather from the south. Alas this has not been the situation and there is no immediate prospect of change before the end of the month making August a washout.
My energy level had been good over the morning as I completed writing while giving full attention to the Olympics. And then I needed to shop and go to the bank to pay in the cheques from Inland Revenue and Premium Bonds. In the evening there was a an excitingly close Pro 40 cricket match at Nottingham involving Durham. This was also rain affected reducing the length of the Durham inning twice so that using the formula which applies in this competition Nottingham was asked to score 152 fro 25 overs almost a 20 20 game where such totals are possible and as with Durham had a good start but hen one of their key players injured himself and the rest collapsed to give Durham a surprising and unimportant win, only their second in four games, placing then in mid table and with the three teams above them with only two more points and played an additional game, so there is all still to play for. It was good to see the new flood lights in operation and which are the best in the UK.
And now to the Olympic story 2008.
Eight of the sixteen gold medals have been won through cycling with seven of these on the track and one on the road, the first by Nicole Cooke(1) the 25 year old from Wick in Glamorgan, achieving success after her disappointment at the age of 21 at the last Games in Athens. One of the treats of the latest Computer TV Technology is that in addition to having a constantly updated list of British Medal winners it is possible to watch full screen video's of the event, the medal ceremony and interviews including those with parents who in almost all instances will have committed themselves to supporting with help in travel, special diet, facilities and constant support. The medal was well earned with having to race up and down mountains as well as through the streets of the capital for over three and a half hours. The feature of the rest was managing to keep close to those who attempted to break away and that in the closing moments she momentarily lost touch before powering through to win.
Her victory is rightly celebrated and her parents appropriate honoured but it is worth reminding that after winning her first national tile at 16 years and being a world junior champion she turned professional and presently lives in in Lugano, rides for a Swiss based team and speak fluent Italian, She has women major races throughout Europe and was rated the world's number road cyclist. However being the Olympic Champion is the one which matters to most sporting athletes
It is also important to remember that throughout the history of the games which were re-established, some 100 years ago, only 200 British men and women have won the gold medal, and with a quarter of these (55) achieved at the 2008 London games when there were only some twenty nations competing and participation by genuine amateurs. In 1900 we won 14 in Paris and then a similar number in Antwerp in 1920. Theer were 11 in Sydney 2000 and 10 in Stockholm 1912, which means that sine 1920 only once were more than ten gold medals achieved. At the USA games in Alabama we only one won.
The second set of cycling Medals was won in the men's sprint team where three riders each ride a lap of the track against another team doing similar, similar to the relay on the athletics track except that they must also ride together for the first lap and then two for the second. The winning margin was only half a second on the final race which lasted just over 41 seconds. Such is the contrast between performers Two of the three were to win further medals but the man who got the team off into a their leading position was Jamie Staff (2). Also 25 years from Ashford Kent he started on a BMX bike when he was nine years of age and he took up the sport winning everything from World Championship downwards. Deciding that he wanted an Olympic medal, in 2001 when the BMX bicycle was not an Olympic Sport he switched to track cycling qualifying for the British Team at his first attempt. He has won gold with the British Team in the World Championships in two events 2002 and 2004.
The third member of the Gold Medal team Jason Kenny (3) who is one of the youngest members of the British team at the age of 22 from Bolton and who previous has only represented and the European Level under 23's so it is an extraordinary achievement to have one Gold Medal as part of the sprint team and then run Chris Hoy a close second to win the individual sprint silver. He is destined for great things in the future world championships and 2012 Olympics.
The third cycling medal was an individual medal by Bradley Wiggins(4) in the individual pursuit competition. Winner in Athens 2004 he repeated his success in 4000 metre pursuit race having achieved a Bronze at the Sydney Olympics in the team pursuit, He also won a silver and a bronze in Athens. He is now 28 years of age and was born in Belgium, his father a professional cyclists who then moved to London, He turned professional in 2001 with the British Road Racing team, moving to the French Teams and riding in the Tour De France 2006 and 2007. He received an OBE in 2004 for his contribution to British Sport he won three world championship medals in 2008. Bradley won a second gold medal in Beijing as part of the British team pursuit team
The next Gold Medallist to mention is Chris Hoy(5) one of Scotland's foremost athletes who rowed and came second in the British Championship in 1993 and Rugby at school. A university graduate in Sports science he had been awarded two honary doctorates, As with Wiggins he commenced on the BMX bicycle. Before Beijing he has achieved recognition on and of the track winning Gold in Athens in 2004 in 1km time trial and has nine world gold medals. Chris was part of the trio of riders who won the team Sprint. He won the individual Sprint against a fellow Team Member and also the Keirin, the Japanese originated race in which six to eighth riders jostle for position behind a motorcycle before breaking into a sprint when the motor cycle breaks off about a couple of laps before the end of the race. At the age of 32 Chris is expected to retire having been appointed an ambassador for the London Olympics and where a Scottish Velodome being built for the 1014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow is being built for him. Given that he already has an MBE and is the British person to win three Olympic Medals at the same games and with four from four different events there is already expectation that he will receive knighthood for his contribution.
The sixth Cyclist Gold Medal winner Rebecca Romero was raised in Wallington, but long after my own childhood having a Spanish father and English mother and attending Wallington High School which I used to pass on my way to the John Fisher School and which was then the Girl's Grammar School. She also has University degrees in English and in Sport's science and a postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Communication. Aged now 28 she developed an interest in rowing and in the Athens Games won a silver medal in the four sculls. And then was part of the team which won the World sculls fours in 2005. Having a back injury she retired from rowing in 2006 and took up track cycling quickly making progress in endurance events. She then won silver medal in the 2006 World Cup track competition in the team pursuit losing to the same British opponent who she beat in Beijing, She obtained a silver in the World cycling event in 2007 and then Gold in the 2008 world championships and a second medal as part of the team pursuit team. She is the first British women two have competed at the Summer Olympic games in two sports and only the second woman to do so from any country.
In addition to Bradley Wiggins there were three others who won Gold Medals as part of the British team pursuit team. Paul Manning(7) aged 24 from Sutton Coldfield is a British professional cyclist who has represented in two previous Olympic games winning bronze and then silver and who has won two Golds at the Commonwealth games. Geraint Thomas (8) from Whitchurch area of Cardiff was born in Wales and at 22 is one of the younger member who can hope to compete in London and after. He became the youngest rider in the 2007 Tour de France, deciding not to race in the Tour in 2008 in order to prepare for the Olympics. The team broke the world record in the heats and again in the final. He has won gold medals in the World Championships 2007 and 2008. The fourth member of the team is Ed Clancy (9) born in Barnsley Yorkshire his home is now Newton Le Willows in Lancashire. A professional cyclist aged 23 he was part of the 2008 World Championship winning team and is another good prospect for London 2012.
The third female cycling Gold Medallist was the last success Victoria Pendleton (10 born Stotfold, Bedfordshire and now aged 28 years Although she showed early promise as a cyclist being spotted by a national coach at the age of nine she decided to first concentrate on her education, gaining a degree in Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Northumbria in Newcastle. Although she commenced cycling again at national level and went to the 2004 Olympic Games it was not until 2005 that she won her first Gold Medal in the World Championships and then two Gold Medals in 2008. She was much affected by not winning a medal at Athens and has been greatly helped by the team of specialist appointed to help the British team, especially the psychiatrist who was the first person she hugged after winning.
A second Road Racing medal was won by a British Athlete, this occasion a silver by Brenda Pooley (11) aged 26 from Wandsworth London and a Cambridge graduate, in the Road Race Time Trial and event which lasts just over half an hour of flat out cycling. She was originally a runner but took up cycling after an injury. She has become a professional cyclist living in Switzerland where continues her studies working for a Doctorate in soil Engineering.
Ross Edgar (12) was the runner up to Chris Hoy in the Keirin final. Aged 25 and born and lives at Newmarket Suffolk but has represented Scotland at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Runner up to Rebecca Romero, Wendy Houvenagel (nee McClean 13) aged 24 and born and brought up in Upperlands County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. A member of the successful Team Pursuit team at the world championship in 2008. She studied Dentistry at the University of Dundee she joined the RAF after graduation and reached the rank of squadron leader as a Dentist but is not a reservist. She only took up cycling in 2007 having not ridden a bike since leaving school which makes her rise to an Olympic Medal that much more extraordinary.
Chris Newton (14) 33 from Middlesbrough in the North East, was the oldest member of the team to win a medal, bronze in in the points race. He has had an outstanding career as a road and track racer, a university graduate and a graphic designer by trade. His career commence din 1992 when he was fourth in the World Junior team pursuit willing two British road races a year later. He represented GB a year later and won first prizes in competitions in Europe. In 2002 he won a Gold in the World Championship points race subsequently winning Golds in the World Championships and World Cup. He broke a collarbone early in 2008 which prevented participation in the World Championships and in his preparations for the Olympic. Steven Burke (15) also won an unexpected bronze medal at the age of 20 and improving upon his best performance by 11 seconds in the 4000 metre individual pursuit. Steven who comes from Burnley in Lancashire came to the fore as a Junior in 2005 and the Under 23's level in 2006 winning senior Gold Medals in the 2007 National Championships. He is therefore another bright prospect for 2012.
This not just proved to be the most successful British Cycling team at any championships ever, but the most successful team in the world ever. Therefore considerable credit must go to the management and technical support services from the designer of the wear, headgear and above all the bicycles tailored to individual competitors and competitions. Many have reach their peak age and it must be hoped that the majority will continue to 2012 unless of course better competitors emerge between now and then when the younger ones should be given their opportunity.
This is also not the end of British Cycling success at the 2008 Olympics as we have the world female BMX champion still performing. More of that in the final round up.
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