KEY POINTS:
Another bronze medal comes home. The men's team pursuit cyclists saw off Australia, coming in behind Denmark and a British team busily putting the Great back into Britain.
Like other cycling races this isn't accessible to a newcomer. For instance, the Points race lives off a complex system of accumulating points, producing the odd sight of a Spanish rider knowing a lap out he'd won and drifting home in the field.
Me? I'd always thought races were about lining 'em up, firing off the gun, and the first over a designated distance wins.
Nope.
The teams pursuit race has the teams starting on opposite sides of the track and blasting off on their own. They keep going until three of the four team members cross the line, with the time taken on the slowest. At least, I am reasonably sure that's how it works.
It's a tricky event for television. In long shot the teams look like two high-speed caterpillars whizzing around. Get in for the close-up and the Marvel Comics type superhero helmets keep you from seeing the faces.
That's a shame. Because, while we admire the athleticism and the skill, we don't want to miss those delightfully human moments; the team swearing at each other, the team swearing at the opposition, or the team swearing at the coach. Any of these will do.
Given cycling is so explosive there isn't time for that, so a sense of the effort going into producing something as smoothly graceful as this would have been interesting.
In the final, Great Britain versus Denmark, another element came into play. The British team was, almost literally, streets ahead, coming close to overtaking the Danes. I would imagine in cycling this would be mortally embarrassing, akin to losing 19-0 to the All Blacks, with Dan Carter missing four penalties.
Thing is, while I don't particularly understand what the New Zealanders were doing they did get a medal, and that's just fine with me.
Denis Edwards
Pictured above: The New Zealand Olympic Men's Team Pursuit foursome pass their Spanish opposition during their first round race at the Laoshan Velodrome. Photo/ Kenny Rodger
