THE announcement yesterday of Britain's cycling team for the Beijing Olympics brought bad but not unexpected news for Craig MacLean. The 36-year-old from Grantown-on-Spey, a stalwart of the British team and two-time Olympian, admitted last night that his omission – with 20-year old Jason Kenny favoured in the sprint events – leaves a big question mark over his future.
"Of course I'm disappointed," said MacLean, "but given the results of the (selection] trial (held last Friday, in which MacLean was beaten by Kenny] I can't be too disappointed. I don't know at the moment what the future holds. I'm funded until Decem
ber and I'll be living and training as an athlete until then. And anything could happen to the guys who've been selected, so I'm regarding myself as a non-travelling reserve."
David Brailsford, the British Cycling performance director, praised MacLean and another veteran, the Sydney gold medallist Jason Queally, for the way they reacted to their omission. "We witnessed an unbelievable trial between the sprinters, all of them posting world class times," said Brailsford. "I'd like to pay credit to Jason and Craig for the way in which they approached the trial; they are true champions in the way they conducted themselves when they learned they had not made the cut."
Britain's team of 25 includes riders in all disciplines – BMX, mountain biking, road and track – but it is on the track where Britain's real strength lies, as reflected by the fact that 14 of the 25 riders will target success in the velodrome. Among them are Scots Chris Hoy, a gold and silver medallist in the last two Games, and Ross Edgar, who competed in Athens without medalling.
Having won nine gold and two silver medals at the world track championships in March, Britain's cyclists will travel to Beijing with the weight of public expectation on their shoulders. Such a haul is unlikely to be repeated, but of the nine events they will contest in the Beijing velodrome, they are arguably favourites in six.
Hoy, who will ride the sprint, keirin and team sprint, is outstanding favourite in the keirin but can realistically target gold in all three. And Edgar, named for the team sprint and keirin, will be disappointed if he returns without a gold medal.
It is the team sprint in which MacLean has made his mark over the years, helping Hoy and Queally to a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and contributing seven medals – six in the team sprint – at world championships. It was at the last Olympics in Athens where MacLean suffered the low point of his career, failing to reproduce the form that earned him the title "fastest man in the world" for his explosive opening laps, and being blamed by some for the team's failure to win a medal. Subsequent tests indicated that he was suffering from a virus.
The timing of yesterday's announcement caught many on the hop, coming six days earlier than scheduled by the British Olympic Association. The reason is unclear, with one theory being that it allowed the BOA to deflect the spotlight from Dwain Chambers' appeal against their lifetime Olympic ban for doping offenders, but it might also have something to do with David Millar, for whom the door to Beijing is now firmly closed.
Millar admitted in an interview with this newspaper last week that a successful appeal by Chambers would "open the door" for him to appear in Beijing. Not now it won't.
FACT BOXBMX Shanaze Reade (Women's BMX)
MOUNTAIN BIKE Oliver Beckingsale, Liam Killeen
ROADJonny Bellis (Men's Road Race), Steve Cummings (Men's Road Race & Individual Time Trial), Roger Hammond (Men's Road Race), Ben Swift (Men's Road Race), Nicole Cooke (Women's Road Race), Sharon Laws (Women's Road Race), Emma Pooley (Women's Road Race)
TRACKSteven Burke (Team Pursuit), Mark Cavendish (Madison), Edward Clancy (Team Pursuit), Ross Edgar (Team Sprint and Keirin), Chris Hoy (Sprint, Team Sprint and Keirin), Jason Kenny (Sprint and Team Sprint), Paul Manning (Team Pursuit), Chris Newton (Points Race), Victoria Pendleton (Sprint), Rebecca Romero (Sprint and Points Race), Jamie Staff (Team Sprint), Geraint Thomas (Team Pursuit), Bradley Wiggins (Individual Pursuit, Team Pursuit and Madison), Wendy Houvenaghel (Women's Individual Pursuit)
The full article contains 709 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
