It is a race of extreme endurance, across 4,000 painful metres. It is a race where man and machine combine – with the aerodynamic benefits of equipment as closely scrutinised as individual training plans. It is a race where seconds are measured to the third decimal, to the single millisecond. And it is the race where, at long last, Australia are Olympic champions.
By the admission of their own coach, the Australian men’s team pursuit squad arrived in Paris as underdogs. The nation’s track cyclists have endured a turbulent two Olympic cycles, epitomised in Tokyo by the moment Alex Porter’s handlebar snapped midway through qualifying in a freak accident. The team recovered to win the bronze medal – Australia’s only medal on the track at the last Games – but the symbolism remained.
