Bradley Wiggins's Golden Pursuit

Wiggins Wins Cycling Gold


Bradley Wiggins has won Great Britain's second cycling gold in the men's four kilometre individual pursuit.

The 23-year-old produced an awesome display to beat Australia's Brad McGee in a time of 4:16.304 seconds.

Wiggins, who set a new Olympic record in qualifying a day earlier, follows Chris Hoy's success in the one kilometre time trial on Friday.

But Rob Hayles missed out on bronze when he was beaten by Spain's Sergi Escobar in the third-place race-off.

Such was Wiggins' dominance in the race, he caught up with McGee in the final few laps.

"With three or four laps to go I knew I had it in the bag," said Wiggins. "But I was hurting that much I couldn't enjoy it until I had crossed the line.




Nicely done, Bradley; it was also good to see the mutual respect of the two finalists
From MM



Wiggins' victory avenged his defeat to McGee in the final of the same event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

"It was sweet to beat McGee," he said. "He's the guy who's made me go out and train.

"Two years ago Brad sent a message out to the world and really put a new level on pursuit. It's people like that in sport who spur you on.

"This gold medal is something I've wanted to do since I was 12-years old watching Chris Boardman win the gold in Barcelona. I decided then that I really wanted to win Olympic gold.

"This sort of thing happens to other people when you watch the television and you never accept that it's going to happen to you one day and when it does it's all a bit of a blur."

Wiggins' hero Boardman could not contain his delight after watching his awesome performance at the Athens velodrome.


"Bradley rode a beautifully even ride all the way through," he said.

"I was worried the nerves would get him but he made an aggressive start and after 10m I said it was a done deal.

"I love it when I see people get their reward after they work so hard."



Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/cycling/3586442.stm

Published: 2004/08/21 15:01:25 GMT

© BBC MMIV