This is Day 9 (August 22). Let's go (track) cycling!



Today, Sunday, the night-shifters will check out the morning's events at the Olympic Velodrome. After the first beer of the morning at the Heineken Cafe, an attempt is made to conjure up the stamina needed to stay awake another few hours.


It must have worked, because now we're at track cycling, watching teams of 4 cyclists speed around a wooden track. Interesting fact: the Olympic Velodrome roof, in the OAKA Complex, is 145 meters in length, 106 meters wide, and weighs 3400 tons.
If it looks a bit like the Olympic Stadium, there's a good reason. Both were designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. The velodrome can hold 5,250 spectators. The track is made of afzelia hardwood, 250 meters long and 7.2 meters wide. At the ends it's banked 42 degrees, and even on the straightaways it's inclined 12 degrees.

Here's a rider taking a leisurely trip around the track, as seen from our vantage point, looking past the commentary positions.


Each team has some space at the center of the 'drome,

and there's also a small open area for riding.


The main event this morning is the qualifying round of men's team pursuit. Four riders from each team will start, ride counterclockwise around the track for 4000 meters. At average speeds of around 36 miles an hour, they ought to be pretty dizzy by the end of their laps. Below is the German team, nearly done with their heat. They ended up ranking 4th today, qualifying them for round 1 this evening.


This is the British team. The guy riding high up on the track isn't lost or out of control. In this event, once each lap, the lead rider heads for high ground and then rejoins at the back of the pack. The time for the team is based on when the 3rd rider crosses the finish line. These guys also qualified for the first round tonight.


This formation below is typical of the way the riders line up on the straightaways--very close together!

The Australian men, the last to ride this morning, are a blur rounding the last turn in their heat. The Aussies scored the best time of the morning, finising better than 3 seconds ahead of the second place Brits. In round 1 later that day, they landed in 4th place.


If you're wondering where the U.S. men's team is, they had been eliminated the day before, their Olympic dreams over for 2004.

Leaving the Velodrome we stop by the NBC broadcast compound, in this case a trailer with a small audio mixer, video switcher, tape deck and intercom. Seated at the controls are (L-R) Leigh, Monique, Susan, and Jan.



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