Bitter French reignite London 2012 row over British ‘magic wheels’
It was one of the stories of the 2012 Olympics; the French accusing the all-conquering British track team of having “magic wheels” which they hid after every race. After watching the GB men’s sprint team claim a stunning gold medal on the opening night in the velodrome on Thursday, they were at it again.
“We are human beings like them, we are made of the same stuff, we have a bike like they do, so why are they better? asked the French sprinter Michaël D’Almeida, who was man three in the French team who claimed bronze. “If I had the explanation I wouldn’t be here today with a bronze medal around my neck. I’m not in their camp, in their country, I don’t know how it works, I don’t know what goes on. I have an inkling about certain things, but I’m going to shut up, because it’s not good to speak in the heat of the moment.”
D’Almeida stopped short of accusing the British of cheating, but his coach, Laurent Gané, was similarly bemused, pointing to Callum Skinner’s performance in particular. The Scot, 23, had previously struggled to ‘get on’ to the back of Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny at man one and man two, being dropped at successive world championships. But he was rock solid on Thursday as the GB trio traded Olympic records with New Zealand en route to gold.
“They don’t exist for four years, then at the Olympics they outclass the whole world,” Gané said. “You have to ask how they do it. Their man three had never finished off a race before these Games, and now he’s doing pretty much the best times of the competition. I don’t know what they’ve done – you’d have to ask them. I’d really like to know, to understand.”
Meanwhile, British Cycling’s former technical director, Shane Sutton, said he would be “rooting for the girls in the team pursuit 100 per cent” as they go for gold in the velodrome tonight, two days after smashing the world record in qualifying. Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell Shand, Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald posted 4min 13.260sec to beat the time set by Australia last year by nearly half a second.
Sutton resigned his position in April amid allegations of bullying and sexism, and there is an independent inquiry into the culture at British Cycling ongoing. The Australian said he felt the performances from British riders in the first couple of days in the velodrome were proof that there was nothing wrong with the culture.
“It will be interesting to hear the findings of the panel,” he told Cyc
lingnews.com. “I believe, and I’ve said it all along, it’s not one of fear. It’s one of excellence and the only people in fear, in the system, are the ones that have failed to deliver.”
Sutton declined to answer whether he would return to British Cycling if his name was cleared, saying that was a question for the “powers-that-be”.