In Memoriam: Olympic Tandem Match Sprint
The Olympic track racing fires off tomorrow and it’s time to remember an event discarded to the bin of noble sports.
The Olympic roster of events is constantly evolving and devolving which is why we are now watching synchronized diving as an Olympic sport. What a world, what a world. Maybe it’s a sign of me getting too old but it makes me sick. Who does this sport? Who says let’s go down to the public pool and work on our synchronized diving? No one, that’s who. Did the IOC get bribed by Big Diving? Diving is barely watchable, adding another diver who does the exact same thing adds little. Yes, I’m biased, yes, I don’t understand it. Send your hate mail to Condoleezza Rice, c/o Stanford University, I don’t want it.
Years ago Olympic road cycling cancelled the 100km four-man team time trial and I’m still bitter about that! The four-man TT was a killer event. The time was on the third rider to cross the finish line. A four person team could barely afford to lose one rider. One flat, a bonk, do we wait, do we go? This had to be decided on the road by the team while riding on the razor’s edge of anaerobic doom.
Olympic track lost the tandem match sprint. Track is also losing the individual pursuit events this year for reasons I can’t imagine. Thank you, UCI. The tandem sprint was no flash in the pan event, introduced into the Olympics in 1908. It was finally terminated after the 1972 games. God damn it, what’s not to love? We keep thinking Cav is the fastest cyclist but track sprinters are faster. Imagine two super fast riders on one bike racing another matched pair. One pair of legs does the driving, one pair just to stoke. The stoker could also be the second pair of eyes for the driver but really his mission was to plant his face against the small of the driver’s back and spin that bike up to over 85 kph! The tactics were the same as the regular match sprint. There were track stands, jumps and bumps: it was just faster and more awesome.
I don’t know the reasoning behind the decision in 1972 but I’m here to say things were a little weird back then, many bad decisions went down in the early ’70s. The Bee Gees made it to number sixteen in the American music charts and they were not terminated with extreme prejudice right then, before it was too late.
Here is some footage of a past World Championship just to demonstrate the awesome.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS3BLySqep8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Tandem Racing: two broken cyclists for each nasty crash. Otherwise, this looks like something I’d like to see more of. =)
Damn, my grammar is horrible today. I shall rewrite that last sentence, “This looks like something of which I’d like to see more.”
Okay, my inner Grammar Notsee has been sated. Back to work I go…
Awesome! Thanks for the history lesson, Gianni.
Love that video…Slovaquie & Republic T.Cheque. Sweet.
Alright, now for a dumb question. I actually don’t even know how a regular tandem works as I typically avert my eyes when I see one. The two riders share one drivetrain, right? So you have to pedal the same cadence, right? I’m guessing it is the same with the track bikes, but no coastin’?
Yeah, I have to say the UCI has done a piss-poor job of sticking up for cycling over the years with regard to the Olympics. We lose some key events (kilo, individual pursuit) while synchronized swimming and diving make it in. Maybe cycling needs to hire swimming’s lobbyist . . .
Could cyclo-cross be added to the winter Olympics to make up for the shafting at the summer games?
Nice Gianni – forget about synchronized diving (which like any sport, if an Aussie suddenly does well in it I will like it), the removal of the individual pursuit and the kilo so BMX could come in is the real travesty.
My cycling sensei/ mate rode the ttt at Barcelona (100ks!) and has since won gold at the Paralympics as a pilot in the tandem pursuit. Not fun events!
@wiscot
Track racing in general seems to get burned. Yeah, swimmer’s lobbyists. On a barely related note, somehow, sometime, there needs to be a meeting of like minded Velominati who attend some six day racing (as spectators) in Gent, or Amsterdam. Gaaawwww, it would be too much fun. It’s on my Big List. Way in front of The Great Wall, The Vatican, or the Liberty Bell.
I love that every single one of the crashed riders is so gassed that they don’t even care that they hit the deck, they just want air.
@Marcus
I would think if Aussis even participated in syncro-diving they would be asked to leave the country.
Barcelona TTT, That’s what I’m talking about. Yeah, that’s a hardman’s race. That’s a good sensi you have there. The tandem pursuit is as close as you can get to the tandem sprint now. A very cool event indeed. And very little crashing. Very cool.
@Ron
That is correct sir, think tandem fixie at 85 kph on a banked track!
@Ron
The only way to stop pedaling on any tandem (assuming you’re riding bitch), is by taking this approach.
Good call on diverting your eyes. Tandems suck balls, not because I have anything against them, but because I hate that you can’t really stand, you can’t steer, and they give you those fake hoods in back that make you think you can hit the brakes but all you can really do is ghost brake, which invariably makes you feel like you’re accelerating instead of slowing down.
Worst. Idea. Ever.
Is that Mark Cavendish on the front there?
I stand corrected.
This has to be a joke, right?
Synchronized diving:
Individual Pursuit. You decide.
Thanks, Gianni. Great history lessn. Not sure I buy the synchronized diving hating (though I will leave Condi alone for the time being). I like most sports. But I do think that cycling loses out n a major way compared to other sports. Swimming in particular. Four different strokes, plus medley, six different lengths … it is never ending. And compared to cycling, particularly track cycling, it is boring as batshit. But there’s a positive side to this: it shows that the UCI is just incompetent, not corrupt. They’re too useless to be corrupt. Great news.
Watching that video gives me massive respect for the discipline. Check out the bike handling skilz it take to keep that rig upright swerving and popping all over the road. I actually think they locked the wheel so long the tires blew and that’s why they finally crashed. Holy Hayzues.
@G’phant
Yes, absolutely, too much swimming FFS! We get it. Even track and field gets the short end of the stick compared to all the back and forth in the pool. “Who wants join the sargent-major swimming up and down the pooool, eh? Got nothing better to do than swim up and down the pool?”
Oh you will come around on the syncro-diving my friend. Watch a few hours of it.
I’m waiting for Oli to correct all my so called history lessons, he should be awake any time now.
This is another cool tandem video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUoV-6l-EFM
I had olympic badminten on for about a half-hour while I was getting ready for work this morning. I know, right? Friggin’ Badminten?!
But, I have to admit, the way they wack those cocks around was mesmerizing somehow…
@Gianni Oli may be a little slower out of the blocks this morning. The TT didn’t finish until 3:30am NZ time. (I made it t the end of the women’s, but lacked the V for the men’s. I am sure Oli was made of sterner stuff.)
What the hell, that was supposed to have a video.
@The Oracle Particularly when they’re trying deliberately to lose, right?
@The Oracle Dammit. I totally suck at this.
@G’phant
I know. It’s the biggest scandal of the olympics so far.
@Poncho That’s cool? One of the riders looked like he was knocked out…
Gotta say I am really unsettled about these olympics. I participate in two olympic sports (fencing and cycling) (and Mrs./Dr. eightzero in 3, as she adds in Karate.) Participating in an Olympic sport is always advantageous, in that this “status” has direct, tangible, and personal benefits that result. Parents are more receptive to the investment of time, effort and money if they think the activity is widely recognized, and the 5-rings are something of a trademark for that. This means more participation, more investment, more coaches, more venues, more equipment selection, better competition…it’s good for everyone.
That said, the Olympics at times leaves me a bit cold. The spectacle seem at times wholly about money for the rich and powerful, as well as about other non-sporting concerns. Reflect upon the lure of doping, and the win at any cost attitudes of people willing to risk everything…and other peoples’ efforts…over trivial matters is unsettlling. People do give over their lives to what is really entertainment, and there is a tragedy in that.
There should be a joy to sport. It touches on our humanity in unique ways. It is emotional. Having that reduced to money terms makes me feel…dirty.
There’s golf at the next Olympics in Rio – I mean fucking golf?
@eightzero
Karate (much to my regret) isn’t an Olympic discipline although Tai Kwon Don’t is. There’s a galaxy of marshal arts I’d let in before (fucking) golf – including Ecky Thump. That said some marshal arts do have a regrettable tendency to behave like triathlon and disappear up their own fundaments.
Where’s the joy in (fucking) golf?
Cav was a track rider. I guess he only ever got 2nd in a sprint as a junior according to his wikipedia page.
@the Engine no joy in Golf, but lots of money. Even the Aussie swimming commentators have remarked on the subliminal sponsorship and commercialisation going on with swimmers wearing non-standard rubbers on their heads! Suits that aren’t black etc. I can tolerate most of the sports because they do take extreme talents, training at the highest level etc etc. But why Golf and Tennis need more exposure? I cannot fathom an answer. Maybe Tiger wants a gold medal…
I feel t he same way when I see Kobe and Lebron lining up for the Basketball, I mean come on, surely the Olympics is more about the guy who has trained in his shed, built his bike from a washing machine and the like?
It used to be an amateur thing, but that seems an impossible ideal now.
(incidentally I would love to know what dictionary my iPad uses when typing on here, some of the autocorrections are awesomely bad) – for example you have Tae Kwon Don’t ?? But that could be humour
@Giles I totally agree about basketball. for one thing its not even an international sport. At least Tennis and Golf have that going for them. then again, I couldn’t really careless about the entire event. I watched the RR cause its a damn race and I am following the Tennis cause its a sport I have been passionate about since I was about 10. other than that I dont watch, read or listen to anything about it.
@the Engine
“Ecky Thump” NIce. Great episode!
All Olympic sports shoudl hark back to the original, where soldeirs showed their mad skillz at either killing or avoiding being killed. Anything else is just money grabbing by the IOC.
So track cycling wouldn’t be in my Olympics (too easy to be killed when just riding in circles), but the road race and time trial would be (transport to and from the battle). Throwing stuff, jumping stuff and running are all in. Beach volleyball, synchronised anything (except maybe stabbing or garrotting), and all demonstration sports are out.
Now I just need a wealthy patron to bankroll my idea…
Wow, this whole thing is awesome… the Bee Gees being terminated, ‘Big Diving’ lording over the IOC, photos of insane double deathtraps, Tae Kwon Don’t, fucking golf (Tiger’s concoction I’m sure) Ecky Thump and whacking cocks around… what a way to start the day!
@Bianchi Denti
I’d like to see the TT combined with the Javelin… seeing Wiggo cop one in the chest would make my day. Even better if he was sitting on that fucking throne. What a twat.
Um, crashes in both semi finals and you’re wondering why the event was canned? It’s like including Nascar if they’re only allowed to steer with their left hand. I might posit that the liklihood of crashing on a very expensive wooden track put the organisers off, while previous events may have been run on concrete tracks or older outdoor tracks that have hardened over time?
@the Engine
Worse, (fucking) golf isn’t even a competiton between individuals. It is between you and the course. Now fairly, this can be said about time trials too, but … what you said. The thing about (fucking) golf that always cracked me up was how much the PGA hated John Daly. He was a out of shape, pot bellied, loudmouth wife beating, drug addicted, annoying fuck…that could hit the ball further than anyone else in the game. And people don’t give a shit about score, they want to beat the shit out of the (fucking) golf ball. He actually showed up on the first tee for a big (fucking) golf tournament with a cigarette and beer in hand. Even though he was a fucking disgrace, he had huge crowds. And made huge money independent of the control of the PGA.
Fuck golf.
And yes, Mrs/Dr Eightzero participates in a “martial art” and those in general, not specifically, are Olympic sports. I ride a bike, but don’t race. Except when there is somone in front of me. Or a running clock on my bars.
@RedRanger
Basketball is certainly an international sport. Not nearly on on the level of something such as football (soccer), but there are pro teams in Europe, where many players went during the lockout here in the US, or where players go before/after their careers here in the US.
It’s sort of the reverse of how cycling is here in the US vs. Europe. Just because pro cycling isn’t super popular in the US it doesn’t mean there aren’t pro teams, or people who enjoy it.
I’d like to institute the Amateur olympics, where you have to work 35 hours a week minimum (For the French) at a real job and compete to get into the competition. Pretty much what masters racing is I suppose, without the age restriction. That way you get people who are passionate about their sport and actually willing to make sacrifices for it rather than some ponce who gets paid to work on their hobby (Yes, I know this applies to cyclists too).
I could not care less about some oversized twat who gets a government handout to swim lengths.
@eightzero
You tend to relate these things to money which is interesting because I agree with almost all of what you say, but money doesn’t occur to me as being the root of this.
To me, it seems like the root is that, as you say, these things should be fun. This is what we do to have fun, get healthy, etc. But when that becomes your work, then what do you do for fun? You don’t pick up a career as a hobby and head to the office for a few hours after riding to relax, right?
I think these athletes start to lose sight of the fact that this is really just a sport and its really not life or death that we’re talking about. They conduct themselves like its the only thing in the world because for most of them, it is. That, to me, is the tragedy.
As much as I’m indifferent about Wiggo, and was disgusted by his early attitude towards those asking questions about his methods to get to the top, I was impressed by him having the sensibility to point out that all he’s doing is riding a bike and its all just a bike race at the end of the day.
Like I said in the Olympics VSP, Christ I miss the Cold War. At least the Olympics mattered then.
On a completely different note, we have the chance to go to the Vancouver (actually Whistler) Olympics and it was so incredibly fucking cool. Especially cool to see the event held in a village I’m really familiar with and understand well to begin with. Seeing it with the Olympics was incredible because you could see the delta between every other winter and the Olympics; the difference was purely the spirit of the event. Amazing. People from every country, all having a great time and being welcoming of each other. Goes to show that politicians cause wars, not people. People just want to chill out and have a good time for the most part.
I envy you Londoners that you get to experience this in your town. Very, very, very cool.
@the Engine
You mean like the Scottish Marshall Art of Fook’Yu. Which consists mostly of headbutting, and kicking people when they’re on the ground? (Thank you Mike Meyers.)
@DerHoggz
Cav was an endurance track rider. Much different beast to the sprinters.
The Olympics may be about money, spectacle, or whatever anymore……but it’s definitely about sex. Did anyone see this story? Given to me by Mrs.graham d.m.
http://www.eonline.com/news/334478/how-much-sex-is-going-on-at-the-olympic-village-does-100-000-condoms-answer-your-question?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories
wowza! More motivation to be an Olympian I guess?
@frank
Hell, if I had a babe like that on the back, I’d ride the goddamn thing, too.
Pretty sure I had a post around here somewhere about 6 months ago about this old Dutch lady coming up to me while I was at the top of one of our local climbs & she got on to a story about how her Grandfather had won medals for Holland as a cyclist & after looking him up I saw he’d been the stoker in the tandem sprint.
Shall go searching to see what I can find…
@doubleR
Getting past the aesthetics of the bike, er, tandem, the quickest way to kill a relationship is to get a tandem. Whole lotta bitching you can’t escape.
@eightzero
Fuck golf. When I’m too old to ride (never unless I keep crashing like last night) I’ll take up a proper retiree sport like fly fishing.
I didn’t know they were adding golf. Burns me as bad as when they ‘trialled’ 2 different sports at Albertville. Curling and Speed Skiing. My boy Jeffery Hamilton brought home the bronze hitting 226Kph. The OIC decided that dudes going over 200K downhill wasn’t as exciting as watching a rock and a broom slide across ice. I’m sure I’ll stir up some trouble especially from our Canadians neighbors, but fuck curling too.
Disagree with all you fuckers. Despite Australia having its worst performance in swimming in a long time, it is still a very very worthy olympic sport – in fact I call it the second most “worthy”. Behind running, I think it is the most “pure” sport in terms of “faster higher stronger” and in terms of human movement. Think there are about 32 medal events in the pool (plus the 2 available in the long distance swims).
Compare that to T&F – a good 44 medals I just counted on my fingers (I counted some fingers more than once). I dont think there are too many medals in swimming. Its just that the really good swimmers can transfer over into more than one event. Maybe thats an argument to cut it down but then how would we Australians feel like we can compete in world sports?
Swimming is a massive sport in Australia – we dont say that maybe the Winter Olympics should be cancelled because it is only a bunch of very marginal sports over here, do we?
Fucking James Magnussen in the 100 Free. Fuck.
And as for whoever was bagging John Daly, when he could play (and he really could), his real strength was a sublime short game. His driving was long, but the chipping/putting was what won him majors.
@Marcus
Drive for show, putt for doe.
Oh and by the way, on my personal measurement of the greatest Olympians which is a function of:
-the poularity/level of participation in the sport across the globe,
– the athlete’s longevity over multiple Olympiad, and
– finally the number of gold and other medals won,
– Carl Lewis is the greatest Olympian by far. The fact that he probably took more HGH than any cyclist in history is not worth mentioning.
@RedRanger maybe – if you are hunting deer.