Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics

In today's world, Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics has become an increasingly relevant topic of interest. With a significant impact on various aspects of society, Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics has generated extensive debate and interest in different sectors. From its influence on the economy to its impact on health, Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics is a topic that has been the subject of study and analysis by experts and academics around the world. With the aim of clarifying and deepening the understanding of Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics, this article will address the different aspects related to this topic, in order to provide a broad and detailed vision of its importance and impact today.

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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2012 →

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.

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.

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

Road cycling

Mountain bike

  • Mountain bike men
  • Mountain bike women

BMX

  • BMX race men
  • BMX race women

Medal table

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

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

Games Gold Silver Bronze
Keirin
Chris Hoy
 Great Britain
Ross Edgar
 Great Britain
Kiyofumi Nagai
 Japan
Madison
 Argentina (ARG)
Juan Esteban Curuchet
Walter Fernando Pérez
 Spain (ESP)
Joan Llaneras
Antonio Tauler
 Russia (RUS)
Mikhail Ignatiev
Alexei Markov
points race
Joan Llaneras
 Spain
Roger Kluge
 Germany
Chris Newton
 Great Britain
individual pursuit
Bradley Wiggins
 Great Britain
Hayden Roulston
 New Zealand
Steven Burke
 Great Britain
team pursuit
 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
Chris Hoy
 Great Britain
Jason Kenny
 Great Britain
Mickaël Bourgain
 France
team sprint
 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

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 (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

See also

References

  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.

External links