By David Ferguson
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Chris Hoy (rear) of Great Britain competes in the Men's Sprint Finals of the cycling-track event during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the Laoshan Velodrome in Beijing, China, Aug. 19, 2008. Chris Hoy won the gold medal. [Xinhua] |
Scotland's Chris Hoy joined Zou Kai and Stephanie Rice, the Australian swimmer, as a multiple gold medal winner at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, with his third gold medal of the Games.
The British cyclist took the last of the Track Cycling medals when he won the discipline's blue ribbon event, the Men's Sprint, beating his own team mate Jason Kenny in the final. In doing so he became the first British Olympian for 100 years to win three gold medals in a single Games, and it brought his overall total to 4 in addition to the one he took at the Athens Games in 2004. In the space of less than a week in Beijing he won gold with the Men's Team sprint, and then took the individual Keirin title before yesterday's victory.
The Track Cycling sprint is run as a best-of-three competition over a distance of three laps, or 750m. The first 550m can be very slow – the cyclists can even stop altogether for up to 30 seconds – as the riders try to gain a tactical advantage, and then burst into action. Only the last 200m of the race are timed.
Hoy was unbeaten in the event, winning all his rounds in two races, and he broke the Olympic record in his qualifying run on Sunday 17th with a time of 9.815 seconds. In the same way as the Chinese have dominated gymnastics and diving, the British team has been head and shoulders above everyone else in the Velodrome, winning seven of the ten gold medals available.
(China.org.cn August 20, 2008)