Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Laoshan Mountain Bike Course
Urban Road Cycling Course
Laoshan Velodrome
| Cycling at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | |
|---|---|
| Venues | Laoshan BMX Field Laoshan Mountain Bike Course Urban Road Cycling Course Laoshan Velodrome |
| Date | 9 August – 23 August 2008 |
| Competitors | 508 from 66 nations |
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
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
- Team sprint men
- Sprint men
- Keirin men
- 4000 m Team pursuit men
- 4000 m Individual pursuit men
- Madison 50 km men
- Points race 40 km men
- Sprint women
- 3000 m Individual pursuit women
- Points race 25 km women
Road cycling
- Road bicycle race men—239 km
- Road time trial men—46.8 km
- Road bicycle race women—120 km
- Road time trial women—31.2 km
Mountain bike
- Mountain bike men
- Mountain bike women
BMX
- BMX race men
- BMX race women
Medal table
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Great Britain | 8 | 4 | 2 | 14 |
| 2 |  France | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 |  Spain | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 |  United States | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 5 |  Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 6 |  Germany | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 |  Argentina | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Latvia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 10 |  Sweden | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 |  New Zealand | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 |  Australia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Cuba | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Denmark | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Poland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 16 |  Russia | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 17 |  China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Italy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (20 entries) | 18 | 18 | 18 | 54 | |
Road cycling
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's road race |
Samuel Sánchez Spain |
Fabian Cancellara Switzerland |
Alexandr Kolobnev Russia |
| Men's time trial |
Fabian Cancellara Switzerland |
Gustav Larsson Sweden |
Levi Leipheimer United States |
| Women's road race |
Nicole Cooke Great Britain |
Emma Johansson Sweden |
Tatiana Guderzo Italy |
| Women's time trial |
Kristin Armstrong United States |
Emma Pooley Great Britain |
Karin Thürig Switzerland |
Track cycling
Men
Women
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points race |
Marianne Vos Netherlands |
Yoanka González Cuba |
Leire Olaberría Spain |
| Pursuit |
Rebecca Romero Great Britain |
Wendy Houvenaghel Great Britain |
Lesya Kalytovska Ukraine |
| Sprint |
Victoria Pendleton Great Britain |
Anna Meares Australia |
Guo Shuang China |
* Participate in the preliminary round only.
Mountain biking
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's |
Julien Absalon France |
Jean-Christophe Péraud France |
Nino Schurter Switzerland |
| Women's |
Sabine Spitz Germany |
Maja Włoszczowska Poland |
Irina Kalentieva Russia |
BMX
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's |
Māris Štrombergs Latvia |
Mike Day United States |
Donny Robinson United States |
| Women's |
Anne-Caroline Chausson France |
Laëtitia Le Corguillé France |
Jill Kintner United States |
Broken records
| Event | Time | Name | Nation | Date | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's Sprint | 9.815 | Chris Hoy | Great Britain |
2008-08-17 | OR |
| Men's Individual pursuit | 4:15.031 | Bradley Wiggins | Great Britain |
2008-08-15 | OR |
| Men's Team pursuit | 3:53.314 | Bradley Wiggins Paul Manning Geraint Thomas Ed Clancy |
Great Britain |
2008-08-18 | OR |
| Women's Sprint | 10.963 | Victoria Pendleton | Great Britain |
2008-08-17 | OR |
