No stopping British cyclists now as coach anticipates 2012

Published on Monday 18 August 2008 22:07

BRITAIN'S cycling coach Dan Hunt issued a stark warning to the competition after scooping five Olympic gold medals: "We're only just getting going."

Their latest triumph came yesterday when the men's team pursuit squad shattered the world record they had set only the day before.

After dominating the world championships, British riders have been scintillating in the Beijing velodrome. They have failed to land a medal in just one of the seven events contested so far and won gold in five.

So what is their secret? Hunt said: "I think it comes down to a few things: good leadership, good coaching, having the right athletes."

With world sprint champion Chris Hoy, pursuit ace Bradley Wiggins and two-times world champion Victoria Pendleton, they are certainly not short of ammunition.

"We've got a young dynamic team and we haven't even started yet. We're only just getting going," he said, looking forward with relish to their home Games in London in 2012.

"We have got three or four academies now and all of them are going to start producing medals by 2012, 2016. So are the senior guys. So it should be a good fun four years," he said.

Former rower Rebecca Romero, who won the individual pursuit on Sunday to become the first Briton to win medals in two different summer Olympic sports, reckons what goes around comes around.

"There have been other nations in the past that have dominated for several years. You always get that in sport. It's our turn now. What the rest of the world don't know is that we can keep pushing and keep pushing," she said. "Everyone's just stepping back and allowing us to do it. They're not giving us the challenge."

Hoy said he is too busy right now to work out why they have struck gold so often.

"We're all in a bubble, concentrating on our own races and our own efforts. But it's great to be part of such a great team and we can feel a real team spirit building up."

The opposition is wondering what hit them. French coach Daniel Morelon, sprint Olympic champion in 1968 and 1972 and seven times sprint world champion: "Their domination is stunning. We expected them to do well, but not so well and not to clock these incredible times."

"In the paddock, the guys say that the Brits have swallowed motorbikes."