Track Competition Concludes with Triple Gold
Three gold medals were distributed Thursday at the Dunc Gray velodrome as the track cycling wrapped up with a pair of races that delighted the home crowd. Brett Aitken and Scott McGrory gave Australia its first cycling gold in 16 years by winning the madison title, and Australian Gary Neiwand took silver in the keirin race behind France's Florian Rousseau. It was the second gold of the games for Rousseau. The third gold of the day went to Antonella Bellutti of Italy in the women's point race.

Belgium and Italy took silver and bronze in the madision. Jens Fielder of Germany copped bronze in the kierin behind Rousseau and Niewand. In the points race, Leontien Ziljaard of the Netherlands raced to the silver and Olga Slioussareva of Russia earned the bronze.

Nothstein Sprints to Gold
Marty Nothstein captured the first American cycling gold medal of the games Wednesday. He outpaced France's Florian Rousseau in the final at the Dunc Gray velodrome. Nothstein, who lost the 1996 Olympic final to Germany's Jens Fiedler, had to make a comeback from knee surgery to reach the Sydney games. He beat Fiedler, a two-time Olympic champion, in the semi-finals. The silver went to Rousseau, and Fiedler settled for bronze.

In the women's sprint race, France's Felicia Ballanger captured her second gold medal of the Olympics, topping Oxana Grichina of Russia in the final. Iryna Yanovych of Ukraine earned the bronze medal.

In the men's points race, Juan Llaneras of Spain took the gold and Milton Wynants of Uruguay the silver. The bronze was shared by Ho-Sung Cho of South Korea and Alexey Markov of Russia.

Germany Claims Team Pursuit Gold
The German team of Guido Fulst, Robert Bartko, Daniel Becke and Jens Lehmann raced to gold Tuesday in the men's team pursuit race. Ukraine finished second and Britain took the bronze. It was the second gold medal of the Olympics for Bartko, who won the men's individual pursuit competition Sunday. Lehmann captured the silver in that race. Ukraine's runner-up squad consisted of Oleksandr Fedenko, Oleksandr Symonenko, Sergiy Matveyev and Sergiy Chernyavsky. The British bronze went to teammates Bryan Steel, Paul Manning, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Newton.

World Mark for Dutch Rider
The semifinals of the women's 3,000-meter individual pursuit competition produced a world record. Leontien Zijlaard of the Netherlands clocked 3:30.816 to trim the four-year-old mark of France's Marion Clignet by a fraction. That set up a showdown between Zijlaard and Clignet in Monday's gold medal final -- and Ziljaard won again. Britain's Yvonne McGregor wound up with the bronze.

Germans Stage 1-2 Finish; Gold for France Sunday's men's individual pursuit competition produced gold and silver for Germany, with Robert Bartko the victor and Jens Lehmann close behind. Brad McGee of Australia nailed down bronze for the home crowd.

In the Olympic sprint race, the French team of Laurent Gane, Florian Rousseau and Arnaud Tournant took the gold. Britain's Chris Hoy, Chris Maclean and Jason Queally were second and Australia's Sean Eadie, Darryn Hill and Gary Neiwand were third.

First Gold Goes to Queally, Ballanger
France's queen of the cycle track has a gold medal to stick in her spokes after the first day of Olympic racing... and Britain has a surprise champion in the men's competition.

World champion Felicia Ballanger won the women's 500-meter time trial Saturday in just over 34.1 seconds, covering the distance half a second faster than Michelle Ferris of Australia. Cuihua Jiang of China took the bronze.

Britain's Jason Queally surprised the rest of the field in the men's one-kilometer time trial, finishing in just over 1.01.6 -- about eight-tenths of a second faster than Stefan Nimke of Germany. Shane Kelly of Australia took the bronze.

About the Sport

Round and round they go in track cycling, and sometimes they seem to be going hardly anywhere at all. Perched on feather-light, futuristic-looking bicycles, riders in the individual pursuit competition use strategy as much as speed to maneuver a short indoor oval track banked at a precipitous 42 degrees. Time trial races are a flat-out sprint.