That radically original British Cycling track bike might not be so original. And then October came. Why now? This image from the patent British Cycling applied for in raises a few eyebrows.
And it's perhaps a template that could be looked to by other sports to inspire the next generation. That'll do. Watch Live. By Sally Lockwood, Sky News correspondent. Fill 2 Copy 11 Created with Sketch. Sunday 16 September , UK.
Why you can trust Sky News. More from UK. Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram. The British team dominated the world track championships, which ended in Manchester on Sunday, winning more gold medals than ever before. The home team took gold in nine of the 18 events and topped the medals table by a wide margin.
Bradley Wiggins won three gold medals, in the individual pursuit, team pursuit in partnership with Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas and Ed Clancy and madison. Pursuiting is essentially time-trialling, with the riders racing against the clock as much as their opponents; the madison, which Wiggins won in partnership with Mark Cavendish, requires endurance and sprinting skills as well as tactical awareness.
Victoria Pendleton, a short-distance sprinter with a scorching turn of speed, won gold in the individual and team sprint events and a silver in the keirin, which tests sprinting speed and racing skills.
Chris Hoy took gold and silver in the men's individual and team sprints respectively and gold in the keirin. Rebecca Romero won the women's individual pursuit and teamed up with Wendy Houvenaghel and Jo Rowsell to win the team pursuit. Not at all. Britain has enjoyed increasing success ever since winning three track cycling medals, including a gold, at the Sydney Olympics eight years ago.
The Games in Athens were even more productive. British riders have dominated recent world championships and World Cups. They won seven golds at the world championships, a tally few thought could be beaten in Manchester this year. The Government would like to claim some of the credit.
A British Cycling board member in the early s, Cockram says he has seen the culture of the sport change to become more welcoming and outward facing. There have been growing pains along the way but the relentless self-analysis that has served Hoy et al so well has also sparked a culture change within the sport.
To illustrate the virtuous circle that they are aiming for, Drake reaches for Trott, the irrepressible double London gold medallist — one of the first riders to come all the way through the system since public money for participation matched that for the elite end.
That's why we spend a lot of time on coach education, a lot of time on volunteers. At the end of the day, they will make or break whether that inspiration turns into participation and turns into future Olympic success. Unlike other governing bodies at which the elite side of the sport remains disconnected from the grassroots, which are rarely discussed around the boardroom table unless there is a funding round coming up, at British Cycling the two sides appear genuinely integrated.
There is an irony in the fact that at the Football Association and the Rugby Football Union, for example, their councils are made up of venerable figures from the grassroots of the game. And yet the endless concern of them and their board tends to be the upper echelons and the England team. That is partly, of course, because they don't have to rely so heavily on public money.
Drake says he wants to alter that balance but believes it also makes them work harder to grow the sport as a whole. Drake says other sports have been beating a path to his door to hear how cycling squared elite success with boosting participation.
He says there is no silver bullet but that obsessive attention to detail, combined with hard work and restless curiosity, brings its own reward. It's in our interest to make sure the system is delivering. At the end of the day, it's just people riding bikes. When it came to the point where I wanted to try to do it seriously, the only way you could do it was to go and live abroad. This article is more than 8 years old. Owen Gibson.
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