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2008 Olympics Start in Newport (Wales)
Story posted July 25, 2008
By Larry Hickmott
The Celtic Manor hotel where team GB (not the only one as Basketball are here to!) will spend their final 10 days before heading for Beijing.
The final phase before the Great Britain Cycling Team fly out to Beijing for the start of the Olympic Games has begun as many of the riders in the GB Olympic Cycling Team arrived at the Celtic Manor in Newport (Wales) late on Wednesday afternoon. It was the start of a 10 day camp for the riders who fly out to Beijing in early August and the beginning of the final preparations for the biggest competition in the World which starts in only a few weeks.
Just as they were in 2004 prior to Athens, the team are housed in the Celtic Manor, a luxury hotel in the Welsh town. Most of the riders here are track based and use the nearby Newport Velodrome for training whilst others like Emma Pooley, Sharon Laws and Ollie Beckingsale use the Velodrome facilities like the heat chamber to supplement their final preparations. Next week, the team will see more arrivals like the road riders Ben Swift and Jonny Bellis and Points race rider Chris Newton.
For a few days of the camp, I have the honour of being among the best athletes in the World to bring you a behind the scenes look at how the holding camp looks from the inside. It's very rare for the public to see anything more than the racing and the presentation of Olympic medals but during this brief visit I have been able to see just how dedicated and hungry these athletes are for medals at the Olympics and the team effort behind them to try and ensure they get the best support in the world to make those medal winning efforts count.
After the huge haul of medals at the Manchester World Track Championships this year and with Two Gold medals at the Athens Olympics, the Great Britain Cycling team have a fabulous record on the banked Velodromes around the World. I arrived here at Celtic Manor several hours before the riders who came down in a coach from Manchester whilst many staff came down in team cars.
Van loads of cases, bikes, helmets and much more arrived this week in Newport.
Riders pick up their bags and check in to the hotel.
Everyone, riders and staff, were decked out in their Olympic clothing but none showing any sign of nerves prior to what is a huge competition for them all. It didn't really feel a lot different to the atmosphere in other pre championship training camps, just as relaxed off the track as intense on it. One thing that is different to 2004 is how many of them have video cameras and using them to do video blogs. Geraint Thomas has done them for the BBC and ITV and Victoria Pendleton was doing one for Adidas.
Day 1
The first day at the hotel was more a get together and sorting out the kit and getting ready for the start of the training which began on day 2, Thursday which was going to be a very busy day for the riders and staff. The morning of day 2 saw a media day at the Newport velodrome and there were loads of TV crews from around the World including China and also people from the national press. They were kept busy with first a press conference for the partnership between Sky and British Cycling and then a press conference to talk about the team and Beijing.
Above: At 9am, Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton were kept busy as a photographer from Getty Images started doing some pictures of them riding around the track and then posing for the camera in their new GB Sky sponsored kit.
Then, at 9.40 there was the press conference for the Partnership between Sky and British Cycling before another press conference followed at 10am. It was all go and the place was packed with media.
Whilst the Endurance riders and the Sprinters started their training on the track, Performance Director Dave Brailsford was joined by a number of key staff members including Chris Boardman (Director of Coaching), Doug Daily (Logistics), Shane Sutton (Performance Manager) and media spokesman Jonathon O'Neil. Dave Brailsford started by saying how well everything was going and that he and the team could not wait to get out to Beijing.
Dave Brailsford explains the partnership of British Cycling with Sky TV to the worlds media
After explaining that the teams targets were not just about how many medals they can possibly win but also about the nature of the performance, he went on to talk about one of the many selection problems the team have. A few weeks ago at Manchester, it was a privilege to watch a masterful performance from Welsh rider Geraint Thomas. I only his third ever Pursuit, the rocked up to the track and knocked out a 4.17 pursuit, the third fastest British time ever!
At the time it was all hush hush but the news is out and it means the team have a dilemma about whether to enter Geraint for the Individual Pursuit and the Team event. It becomes ever more intriguing when it was revealed that the team were also looking at trialling Mark Cavendish in the Pursuit when he returns from a post Tour de France break in early August. After Cavendish’s win in the Romandy prologue, he seems to have the ability!
One of the things the team has to take into account is do they possibly weaken the team pursuit for the first round by having two riders from that team in the Individual event which precedes the Team Pursuit -- Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas. If Mark Cavendish was to ride the Individual event, that would solve the dilemma but likewise, they could bring Mark, or others like Chris Newton into the team for the first round of the Team event to leave Geraint and Bradley free to do the Pursuit. It is an interesting dilemma to have and one that will probably not be revealed until the last 24 hours before the event!
Ollie Beckingsale gets in a sweat over training as he spends an hour and a half in the heat chamber where the humidity is so high my cameras misted up as soon as I entered the sweat box.
Dave Brailsford explained the dilemma was one for the coaches to look at with the help of the data analysts. Shane Sutton went further after it was he that revealed that Mark Cavendish was going to do a trial in Manchester and also that the GB Cycling team were there to win Gold medals and were not going to water down their chances in doing that just to try and win another medal in an event.
The same goes for the Team Sprint where Shane Sutton spoke about how the selection of the four Sprint riders came about. “Jason Kenny eclipsed his rivals Craig MacLean and Jason Queally in the trials and the make up for the team sprint will evolve over the coming weeks in training” he explained to the media. “Jason Kenny rode 12.97 in the trials for man 2 and its that position we will be looking at. Hoy will ride man 3 and Jamie Staff will ride man 1 and the key question for us will be who do we run in the first round – Jason Kenny or Ross Edgar (who has done a 12.88)?”
“With the help of our support team, we’ll have enough evidence on who we’ll run in man 2. It won’t necessarily be the team we will run in the final as it is run over three rounds and we have good options for each of them. Both guys (Ross Edgar and Jason Kenny) are up for it."
"With Hoy being World Champion, he’ll be number 1 rider in the Keirin and Sprint and that the other rider for those events will be selected in due course." The Performance Manager added that at this point in time, Ross Edgar is expected to ride the Keirin as well whilst it will between Edgar and Kenny for the second spot in the sprint with Kenny at the moment the rider who has been entered for that event. Returning to the Team Sprint, Sutton told the media "I am pretty confident with either Jason Kenny or Ross Edgar, we have enough quality to get through the first round into the next eight in the Team Sprint”.
One of the final speakers was Chris Boardman who told everyone that the team have looked at every element and detail are happy where they are at and that the team have benefited highly from the help of UK Sport.
Following the press conference, the riders were assembled on tables where the media were able to talk to the riders and all the riders, and staff, were kept busy until 12.30 and in the case of some, like Bradley Wiggins, kept back even longer. After that finished, the media left and the training continued with the endurance male riders doing some standing start efforts whilst the sprinters did different drills from standing starts (Chris Hoy) to flying 200s (Victoria Pendleton) to motor chases (Jamie Staff and Jason Kenny).
The afternoon session, the riders headed back to their home for the next 10 days. Meanwhile, near Abergavenny, Sharon Laws and Emma Pooley along with Jessica Allen rode a 10 mile TT, doing 22 minutes for the distance after hard training sessions the day before and an hour in the heat chamber at midday.
Emma Pooley in the TT on her way to a 22 after an hour in the heat chamber that day and an eight hour ride the day before.
Sharon Laws leads Jess Allen before Laws rode away from Allen on her way to a 22 and that despite making a wrong turn.
Note: More exclusive interviews will appear here on British Cycling.org.uk in the coming weeks before the Olympics start.
DAY 1 IN PHOTOS
Not only is Victoria Pendleton a world champion on the track, she is just as talented in front of the camera.
Sports scientist David Bailey talks to Ollie while Emma Pooley and Sharon Laws feel the heat.
How it looks from the outside...
Victoria Pendleton and Chris Hoy model the new Sky sponsored GB kit.
Victoria Pendleton adds some glam to the track session
Sports analyst Scott Gardner finds himself being interviewed on TV during the morning media session.
Lots of interest at the Men's Endurance table...
EIS analyst Mike Hughes sticks the timing triggers around the track and right, Ernie Feargrieve assembles a new Shimano pedal.
The view from the 10th floor at Celtic Manor
The mechanics toolbox to be proud of (and they are!) with custom built Sugino chain rings for the GB team.
Jason Kenny gets into the swing of training in his Olympic training kit.
Jamie Staff on spokies...
Victoria Pendleton gets down to some serious training after the photo sessions in the morning.
Starting efforts on day 1 for the Men's Endurance riders. Left to right, Steven Burke, Bradley Wiggins
and Paul Manning and Ed Clancy.
Wendy Houvenaghel going fast, very fast on the Newport track.
Chris Hoy flexing his very considerable muscle mass in some starting efforts.
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