MARK Cavendish, the only member of Great Britain's track cycling team to return from the Beijing Olympics without a medal, has criticised the nation's obsession with the Games.
The 23-year-old from the Isle of Man entered the Beijing Games as Madison world champion alongside Bradley Wiggins, but the duo's earlier exertions in 2008 took their toll as they finished a lowly ninth.
Cavendish had won four Tour de France st
ages in July, while Wiggins had already won gold medals in the individual pursuit and team pursuit at the Laoshan Velodrome.
"There's a lot of people that didn't win a medal, it's what I sacrificed to go there that hurt the most," Cavendish, who will start Saturday's Giro d'Italia, told the BBC's Inside Sport programme.
"For me, the Olympics is not even in the top ten of what you can achieve. It is quite important as a British person, not necessarily as a cyclist."
A highly-impressive triumph in the Milan-San Remo Classic on 21 March confirmed Cavendish's standing as road racing's quickest sprinter and this summer he will be among the favourites for the Tour de France's fabled green jersey, which is awarded to the points or sprints champion.
As well as his eight victories in 2009, Cavendish has also clinched overall sprint victory in the Tour of California.
"This year already I've won six or seven races – if you asked a cycling enthusiast, they would say it overshadows what the Olympics is for an endurance rider," he added. "But you ask the average member of the public in Britain and they'll look at you like you're mad."
Following his ignominious exit from Beijing, Cavendish vowed his track days, which yielded world championship Madison titles in 2005 and 2008, were "finished". But he returned to the velodrome at the Track Cycling World Championships in Pruszkow, Poland in March and is set to seek Madison gold in London 2012 alongside fellow Manxman Peter Kennaugh.
The road race could also be tempting, with a flat course set to favour the sprinters making gold a realistic goal for Cavendish.
