2008 Olympics Start in Newport (Wales)
Story posted July 25, 2008
By Larry Hickmott
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.
For the full report and pictures, click the link below:
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/gbr/News2008/20080724_Newport_Holding_CampD1.asp