Success inevitably leads to questions from disappointed rivals but, among the queries directed at Team GB’s cyclists after an Olympic Games where every member of the team won a medal, Australia’s Anna Meares has raised a valid point. “How do they lift so much when in so many events they have not even been in contention in the world championships?”
The keirin bronze medallist clarified afterwards that she was not insinuating they were “cheating or doing anything suspicious”. Germany’s Kristina Vogel was also puzzled. “They were cannon fodder when you look at the last few years,” she said, adding that “it is all very questionable”.
What is unquestionable is British Cycling seeks to peak at the Olympics, with Iain Dyer, the head track coach, saying they target the Games to such an extent that they have been wearing helmets last used in 2012. UK Sport targets its funding on podium potential at the Olympics and so it is understandable that the Games should be the focus rather than world championships.
Yet in a sport dominated so much by data, the most clear-cut figure of all – medal tables – suggests Meares and Vogel have a point. There is a clear correlation between world championship performances and Olympic years dating back to at least the 2008 Beijing Games.
In 2008 the British team won nine world championship golds and a total of 11 medals and went on to claim seven golds, three silvers and two bronzes at the Olympics. In 2009, though, their world championship total dropped to two golds. Three followed in 2010 and a pair in 2011, with a total haul of nine medals in each.
Come 2012, however, the total number of world championship medals jumped significantly to 13 with six golds, leading into a haul of seven golds, a silver and bronze during the Olympics. After the Games Britain’s success dropped slightly, with five world championship golds from a total of nine medals. But their world championship results nose-dived in 2014 (two golds, five medals in total) and 2015 (no golds or bronzes, three silvers). They then picked up once again in this year’s world championships in London in March to claim nine medals (five golds, one silver, three bronzes).
While some key cyclists have been absent at world championships, often because of road races or road training in the case of Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins or following injury such as Chris Hoy’s in 2009, it is possible to take Jason Kenny’s performances as a micro sample. It is notable that his world championship finishing positions have dropped between 2012 and 2016. The winner of Tuesday’s keirin finished only 13th in that event at the 2015 worlds but climbed to sixth this year. Kenny failed to reach the last eight of the sprint in 2015, having finished seventh in 2013 and fifth in 2014 but won this year’s world championship and claimed gold in Rio.
Team GB’s Dyer responded to the claims from Meares and Vogel, among others, by saying other teams have not shown up in Rio – yet evidence from numerous events at the Games and the world championships in March suggests otherwise. In several events competitors have ridden faster at the Games only to be usurped by Britain.
Take the men’s team sprint, for instance. New Zealand won in the world championships with a time of 43.257sec, while Britain were sixth in 43.507. At the Olympics New Zealand finished second, beating their world championship time to record 42.542, only to be beaten by Team GB, whose improvement on March was a little more than a second.
The men’s pursuit was similar, with Australia becoming world champions at the Lee Valley velodrome only to finish with silver in Rio despite knocking 1.709sec off their London time. Britain, though, trimmed off more than 3.5sec.
In the women’s team pursuit a similar situation occurred, with USA winning in March and riding 4.348sec quicker in Rio. Britain, who did include Katie Archibald instead of Ciara Horne in their Olympic team, were 6.304sec faster.
