Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Cycling competitions at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics were held from August 9 to August 23 at the Laoshan Velodrome (track events), Laoshan Mountain Bike Course, Laoshan BMX Field and the Beijing Cycling Road Course.

Cycling
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
The Laoshan Velodrome
VenuesLaoshan BMX Field
Laoshan Mountain Bike Course
Urban Road Cycling Course
Laoshan Velodrome
Date9 August – 23 August 2008
Competitors508 from 66 nations
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The event was dominated by the Great Britain team, who claimed 14 medals in total, including eight golds, seven of them from the ten events in the velodrome. This marked the beginning of a period of complete domination for Great Britain that would last to the 2020 Summer Olympics; The British team would claim 21 of the 30 gold medals awarded in the velodrome over the next three Games, 70% of all gold medals on offer.[1][2]

Events

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Eighteen sets of medals were awarded in four disciplines: track cycling, road cycling, mountain bike, and, new for 2008, BMX. The following events were contested:

Track cycling

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Road cycling

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Mountain bike

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  • Mountain bike men
  • Mountain bike women
  • BMX race men
  • BMX race women

Medal table

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Great Britain (GBR)84214
2  France (FRA)2316
3  Spain (ESP)2114
4  United States (USA)1135
5  Switzerland (SUI)1124
6  Germany (GER)1113
7  Argentina (ARG)1001
  Latvia (LAT)1001
  Netherlands (NED)1001
10  Sweden (SWE)0202
11  New Zealand (NZL)0112
12  Australia (AUS)0101
  Cuba (CUB)0101
  Denmark (DEN)0101
  Poland (POL)0101
16  Russia (RUS)0033
17  China (CHN)0011
  Italy (ITA)0011
  Japan (JPN)0011
  Ukraine (UKR)0011
Totals (20 entries)18181854

Road cycling

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
Men's road race
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Samuel Sánchez
  Spain
Fabian Cancellara
  Switzerland
Alexandr Kolobnev
  Russia
Men's time trial
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Fabian Cancellara
  Switzerland
Gustav Larsson
  Sweden
Levi Leipheimer
  United States
Women's road race
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Nicole Cooke
  Great Britain
Emma Johansson
  Sweden
Tatiana Guderzo
  Italy
Women's time trial
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Kristin Armstrong
  United States
Emma Pooley
  Great Britain
Karin Thürig
  Switzerland

Track cycling

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
Keirin
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Chris Hoy
  Great Britain
Ross Edgar
  Great Britain
Kiyofumi Nagai
  Japan
Madison
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  Argentina (ARG)
Juan Esteban Curuchet
Walter Fernando Pérez
  Spain (ESP)
Joan Llaneras
Antonio Tauler
  Russia (RUS)
Mikhail Ignatiev
Alexei Markov
points race
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Joan Llaneras
  Spain
Roger Kluge
  Germany
Chris Newton
  Great Britain
individual pursuit
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Bradley Wiggins
  Great Britain
Hayden Roulston
  New Zealand
Steven Burke
  Great Britain
team pursuit
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  Great Britain (GBR)
Ed Clancy
Paul Manning
Geraint Thomas
Bradley Wiggins
  Denmark (DEN)
Alex Nicki Rasmussen
Michael Moerkoev
Casper Jørgensen
Jens-Erik Madsen
Michael Færk Christensen*
  New Zealand (NZL)
Sam Bewley
Jesse Sergent
Hayden Roulston
Marc Ryan
Westley Gough*
individual sprint
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Chris Hoy
  Great Britain
Jason Kenny
  Great Britain
Mickaël Bourgain
  France
team sprint
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  Great Britain (GBR)
Jamie Staff
Jason Kenny
Chris Hoy
  France (FRA)
Grégory Baugé
Kévin Sireau
Arnaud Tournant
  Germany (GER)
René Enders
Maximilian Levy
Stefan Nimke

Women

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
points race
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Marianne Vos
  Netherlands
Yoanka González
  Cuba
Leire Olaberría
  Spain
pursuit
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Rebecca Romero
  Great Britain
Wendy Houvenaghel
  Great Britain
Lesya Kalytovska
  Ukraine
sprint
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Victoria Pendleton
  Great Britain
Anna Meares
  Australia
Guo Shuang
  China

* Participate in the preliminary round only.

Mountain biking

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Games Gold Silver Bronze
Men's
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Julien Absalon
  France
Jean-Christophe Péraud
  France
Nino Schurter
  Switzerland
Women's
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Sabine Spitz
  Germany
Maja Włoszczowska
  Poland
Irina Kalentieva
  Russia
Games Gold Silver Bronze
Men's
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Māris Štrombergs
  Latvia
Mike Day
  United States
Donny Robinson
  United States
Women's
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Anne-Caroline Chausson
  France
Laëtitia Le Corguillé
  France
Jill Kintner
  United States

Broken records

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Event Time Name Nation Date Record
Men's Sprint 9.815  Chris Hoy   Great Britain (GBR) 2008-08-17 OR
Men's Individual pursuit  4:15.031  Bradley Wiggins   Great Britain (GBR) 2008-08-15 OR
Men's Team pursuit 3:53.314  Bradley Wiggins
Paul Manning
Geraint Thomas
Ed Clancy
  Great Britain (GBR) 2008-08-18 OR
Women's Sprint 10.963  Victoria Pendleton   Great Britain (GBR) 2008-08-17 OR

Qualification

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "How GB cycling went from tragic to magic". BBC. 2008-08-14. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
  2. ^ "How Team GB's weekend of glory happened". Metro. 2009-08-17. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
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