[Devongone]

Re: Devogone
Team GB leave Japan with 12 cycling medals, matching their performances in the London and Rio Olympics and just two short of the record haul from Beijing in 2008.
Great Britain topped the medals table in two-wheel events.
While British Cycling’s performance on the track was in doubt heading into the Games, as other nations had dramatically closed the gap in major competitions, the Team GB track stars delivered multiple golds.

But the Great Britain Cycling Team also flourished in other cycling disciplines, winning gold in BMX freestyle and racing, as well as mountain bike gold with Tom Pidcock.

In an interview with The Telegraph, British Cycling performance director Stephen Park said: ‘We’ve had a tough few years at British Cycling, different people taking different views. I have always been very conscious of the legacy of the British cycling team.

“The question was whether we could maintain top team status. For those listening three years ago I was saying the dominance of the track would not be the same because of the movement in equipment. That’s proven to be the case.”

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/briti...0-olympics

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Re SCO
Ok I've been back here 19 years but of the Olympics I saw while over there, and OK a few degrees further North, most of the TV channels were US biased. The biggest complaint I had was that they only used to show events with a Yank (individuals or teams) in them. As soon as they were out the sport/event/finals disappeared from view. Other than the medals table changing, you would have no idea anything had happened. I guess with interweb streaming these days, and the diverse population able to watch folk from back home on all manner of devices, they've had to become more inclusive to keep the viewing figures up to pull in the advertising revenue.

What you say is both true and disguises the truth Theo'. Our cycling performance was bulked up by seasoned performers doing well in minor events. Jason and Laura are great, but would anyone see their careers as being on an upward trajectory? We did not win or come particularly close to winning any of the glamour events. There was no evidence of a new Hoy, Wiggins or Boardman coming through and whilst the notion that it was simply other countries catching up seems to make sense it really only tells us that we are failing to maintain the gap by which we led the world. Now whether that gap was a fair one resulting from talent and hard work, or whether other nastier elements were involved I don't know, but surely you can't deny the gap has closed and if the trend continues we will sooner or later be looking at ways to catch up.

And cycling is a sport in which other countries could rapidly gain ground. I'm surprised the Chinese haven't yet come through to make it a massive source of medals.