Racing News

Team GB selection for London Olympic Games

The British Olympic Association has announced the provisional team selection for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Many of the riders chosen took to Twitter to post their joy at selection under the hash tag “our greatest team”.

Regining Olympic champion, Geraint Thomas, one of the five-strong squad that lifted the men’s team pursuit world title with a world record in April, ‘tweeted’:

“It’s so exciting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s so close we can touch it”.

David Millar has made the eight-man short list for the five places available on the men’s road race team, the only selection over which a question mark had remained.

The Scotsman only made himself available for selection at the last moment following a CAS ruling last month in favour of allowing riders who had served doping bans to be selected by the British Olympic Association.

The remaining seven riders competing for selection are all from Team Sky, and include Ben Swift, who has not been selected for the track endurance team, despite his success in the Points and Scratch races (silver and gold medals respectively) at the world championships in April.

Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny are named in the track sprint line-up, but no indication is given concerning which of the two men will be the nation’s sole entry in the men’s individual sprint competition.

The accomplished pairing will be joined by Philip Hindes in the men’s team sprint. The young rider impressed at ‘man one’ at the track world championships in April, despite an unfortunate disqualification.

Reigning Olympic sprint champion, Vicky Pendleton and her partner in the women’s team sprint, Jess Varnish, are named in the track sprint line up.

In the track endurance events, the riders who shared duties in the team pursuit events in Australia have again been selected, raising the possibility of line-ups changing throughout the competition.

The men’s endurance squad is comprised of the five man line-up that lifted the men’s team pursuit title in April with a world record in an emphatic victory over arch rivals Australia in which Andy Tennant, who rode in the qualifying rounds, was replaced by Steven Burke in the final.

Similarly, the four-strong selection for the women’s team pursuit contains Beijing individual pursuit silver medalist, Wendy Houvenaghel, who traveled with the team to the worlds in Australia, but did not ride. The three women who lifted the title with a world record, Dani King, Jo Rowsell, and Laura Trott, have all made the Olympic squad.

A five-strong selection for the women’s road race includes reconciled rivals, Lizzie Armitstead and reigning Olympic champion, Nicole Cooke. Katie Colclough, Sharon Laws, Lucy Martin, and Emma Pooley, will all travel to London, with only four of the six eligible to compete.