Track Cycling Review: Britannia rules the Velodrome

(BEIJING, August 20) -- Great Britain dominated the Cycling Track boards during five days of competition at the Laoshan Velodrome during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The British team won seven of 10 gold medals on offer across sprint and endurance events in men's and women's racing and won 12 of 30 medals in total competition.

British riders also smashed four records, three on the men's side and one in women's competition.

The Women's Points Race and the Men's Madison were the only events in which the British team did not win a medal.

Britain dominated the men's sprint events, winning four of six medals in individual competition and gold in the Men's Team Sprint.

Great Britain's Chris Hoy emerged as the track's top star, striking gold in the Men's Sprint, Men's Keirin and Men's Team Sprint, the first Briton in a century to win three golds in one Olympics.

With the swag of gold added to his Athens 2004 Olympic Games 1km time trial gold medal, Hoy equaled the 104-year-old Olympic record of Marcus Hurley (USA), who won four gold medals at the St. Louis 1904 Olympics. Hoy also set a new world record for the Flying 200m Time Trial in Men's Sprint qualifying.

Joining Hoy in celebrating gold in the Men's Team Sprint were teammates Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff. Kenny also won silver in the Sprint while compatriot Ross Edgar won silver in the Men's Keirin. Mickael Bourgain of France won bronze in the Men's Sprint.

Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain set an Olympic record in qualifying for the Men's Individual Pursuit ahead of his gold medal performance. Hayden Roulston of New Zealand had to settle for silver and Britain's Steven Burke was third.

Wiggins later joined up with Ed Clancy, Paul Manning and Geraint Thomas to win the Men's Team Pursuit, setting two Olympic and world records before rolling to gold.

Denmark won silver and New Zealand claimed bronze in the Men's Team Pursuit.

France opened Olympic competition on Friday, 15 August with silver in the Men's Team Sprint. Germany took bronze, with Stefan Nimke as the only returning member of the defending Olympic champion in the Men's Team Sprint.

In the Men's Madison, Juan Esteban Curuchet and Walter Fernando Perez of Argentina teamed up for gold in Curuchet's final race.

Veteran Joan Llaneras of Spain won his second gold medal and his third career Olympic medal in the Men's Points Race before pairing up with Antonio Tauler in the Men's Madison for silver.

Roger Kluge of Germany hung on to take silver ahead of Britain's Chris Newton in the Men's Points Race.

The Russian duo of Alexei Markov and Mikhail Ignatyev, winner of the gold medal in the Men's Points Race in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, claimed bronze in the Men's Madison.

Pre-Olympic Men's Sprint favorite Theo Bos of the Netherlands left Beijing without a medal. He did not finish the Men's Keirin after crashing in qualifying and finished a distant seventh in the Men's Sprint.

The British continued their dominance on the women's side.

Before Beijing, only one British woman - Yvonne McGregor with bronze in the Women's Individual Pursuit in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games - had won an Olympic medal in Cycling Track.

After setting a new Olympic record in the 200m Flying Start, Victoria Pendleton roared to a dramatic victory in the Women's Sprint.

She easily dispatched Anna Meares of Australia in two rounds to win gold to go along with three Sprint world titles since 2005.

Rebecca Romero became the first British woman to win medals in two different Summer Olympic Games sports after taking gold in the Women's Individual Pursuit. She won silver at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games in the Quadruple Sculls in Rowing.

Wendy Houvenaghel, a dentist by training, had plenty of reason to smile with silver after an all-British final in the Women's Individual Pursuit for her first international medal since beginning to seriously compete on the track in 2002.

Pre-favorite Sarah Hammer of the United States did not qualify for the medal rounds to finish a disappointing fifth in the Women's Individual Pursuit and then crashed out of the Women's Points Race with a broken clavicle.

Lesya Kalitovska took Ukraine's lone Cycling Track medal with bronze in the Women's Individual Pursuit.

Meares earned her third career Olympic medal with silver in the Sprint while China's Guo Shuang out-kicked Willy Kanis of the Netherlands to claim bronze.

Marianne Vos of the Netherlands made up for a disappointing sixth-place ride in the Cycling Road Race with gold in the Women's Points Race.

Yoanka Gonzalez of Cuba won the final sprint in the Women's Points Race to snag Cuba's only Cycling Track medal in Olympic history with silver while Leire Olaberria of Spain won the tie-breaker for bronze with second in the final sprint.