cycling

All posts tagged cycling

Cool Runnings

Posted by Malcolm Toogood on August 8, 2012
Posted in: London 2012 a view from the Couch. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

It was somewhat fitting that the final day in the velodrome brought the medals that took Team GB past its overall target for the Games, five days early.  In that final cycling goldrush we witnessed not only the last hurrahs of the two riders who have come to represent all that sport has achieved over recent years, but perhaps the first indications of who might be taking-up their mantle in the years to come.

Downhill all the way – Team GB dominate the Cycling for the second Games running

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Come the Revolution

Posted by Malcolm Toogood on August 3, 2012
Posted in: London 2012 a view from the Couch. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Day Six of the Games marked a distinct upward tick in success for Team GB, with the medal haul now double what it was at the same stage in Beijing, primarily due to our Nation’s prowess in what Michael Johnson, the  BBC’s charming American ex-400 metre Champion, terms the “sitting-down sports.”

Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott paddle to Gold in the C2

There was a Silver in the Lightweight Fours at the Rowing, Gold and Silver in the C2 Canoe Slalom, Silver in Judo, Gold in the Trap-Shooting and Gold, plus a new World Record, in the Men’s Team Sprint at the Cycling, a fifth Gold Medal in cycling for Sir Chris Hoy matching Sir Steve Redgrave’s rowing tally to make them now jointly Britain’s most successful Olympians. Continue Reading

The Road to Failure

Posted by Malcolm Toogood on July 29, 2012
Posted in: London 2012 a view from the Couch, Media. Tagged: , , , , , , .

And so we moved on to Day One of competition, with high-hopes for a golden start in the Road Race.  As it turned-out, that wasn’t to be, the result of which was the first reflected glint of light from the sharp tips of the BBC’s fangs.

The Peloton rushes past the Palace just after the start of the Mens Road Race

Not from the Olympic Sports presentation which, with the possible exception of a certain ex-England striker-turned-pundit, is sympathetic to the joys and sorrows of sporting endeavour – probably because the majority of them have themselves “been there and done that.”  Unfortunately, there are two strands of BBC coverage, and the other one, the 24-hour news part, is already bristling with negativity.

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