After 22 cycling events at the Paris Olympics, from BMX racing to the Madison, there were 66 different medallist countries – with multiple gongs awarded for some, like the team sprint and pursuit.
Great Britain, the dominant cycling country when it comes to the Olympics for the last few Olympiads, still claimed the most medals overall – 11 – but with just two golds, fell down the cycling medal table. Tom Pidcock’s win in the mountain bike and GB’s victory in the women’s team sprint looked set to spark a gold rush, but this did not materialise. However, there were some sparkling performances, from Anna Henderson in the time trial to Neah Evans and Elinor Barker in the Madison.
“We won’t ever know what might have been but had some of our lineups been a little bit different, or crashes not happened, then we could have easily won one or two more gold medals,” Stephen Park, BC’s performance director said in Paris.
“We’ve had a fantastic Games despite a number of pieces of adversity in the weeks leading up to the Games,” he continued. “One of those was Katie Archibald. Our women’s team endurance programme coming into the Games would have looked very different had she been here. Katie is a fantastic rider and was actually in the form of her life at the time. So that could well have made it look different.”
Meanwhile, the USA, the country which topped the overall medal table, won three golds across road and track through Kristen Faulkner in the women’s road race, the women’s team pursuit squad (also featuring Faulkner) and Jennifer Valente in the women’s omnium. However, they were pipped to the top of the cycling table by France, the Netherlands and Australia, by dint of this trio having gained more silver medals.
The hosts topped the table with golds from Pauline Ferrand-Prévot in mountain biking, Benjamin Thomas in the men’s omnium, and Joris Daudet in the BMX racing.
The Netherlands three gold medals all involved one man, Harrie Lavreysen, who proved without a doubt that he is the best male track sprinter in the world, possible ever. He won in the team sprint, the keirin, and the individual sprint. Not a bad tally.
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17 countries won cycling medals overall, with podiums for Argentina and South Africa, as well as success for the traditional cycling powerhouses of Belgium, Italy, and Denmark.
Belgium’s two gold medals in cycling both came from one man – Remco Evenepoel.
Swipe to scroll horizontallyCycling Medal Table – Road, Mountain Bike, BMX, TrackCountryGoldSilverBronzeTotalFrance3339Netherlands3317Australia3238USA3216Great Britain25411New Zealand2215Belgium2035Itay1214Portugal1102Argentina1001China1001Germany0112Poland0101Denmark0011South Africa0011Sweden0011Switzerland0011
