LONDON (Reuters) – Six world records, home joy and two major disqualifications marked the first dramatic day of track cycling at the Olympics on Thursday where Britain’s men retained their team sprint title in front of assembled glitterati.

Chris Hoy picked up his sixth Games medal and fifth gold as Britain beat France in a world record time of 42.600 seconds to leave the London velodrome in ecstasy with Prince William and Prime Minister David Cameron among those cheering in the crowd.

The emotions inside the futuristic arena were very different minutes earlier when first home hope Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish were disqualified from the team sprint for an illegal changeover and then an angry China suffered the same fate after assuming they had won gold.

Germany therefore ended up as the women’s champions with China, whose officials remonstrated with the commissaires, relegated to silver as the capacity crowd struggled to keep up with the rules and the changing results.

The thousands of Union Jack waving fans had just about regained their composure with events coming thick and fast in the intentionally hot and humid velodrome when the men’s sprint final brought gargantuan glory.

Hoy, who had tears welling in his eyes on the podium, told reporters: “It’s just great to win here in the UK, in front of this crowd, it’s phenomenal. You cannot overstate what this means to us. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

MIXED START

LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Six world records, home joy and two major disqualifications marked the first dramatic day of track cycling at the Olympics on Thursday where Britain’s men retained their team sprint title in front of assembled glitterati.

Chris Hoy picked up his sixth Games medal and fifth gold as Britain beat France in a world record time of 42.600 seconds to leave the London velodrome in ecstasy with Prince William and Prime Minister David Cameron among those cheering in the crowd.

The emotions inside the futuristic arena were very different minutes earlier when first home hope Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish were disqualified from the team sprint for an illegal changeover and then an angry China suffered the same fate after assuming they had won gold.

Germany therefore ended up as the women’s champions with China, whose officials remonstrated with the commissaires, relegated to silver as the capacity crowd struggled to keep up with the rules and the changing results.

The thousands of Union Jack waving fans had just about regained their composure with events coming thick and fast in the intentionally hot and humid velodrome when the men’s sprint final brought gargantuan glory.

Hoy, who had tears welling in his eyes on the podium, told reporters: “It’s just great to win here in the UK, in front of this crowd, it’s phenomenal. You cannot overstate what this means to us. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

MIXED START

LONDON (Reuters) – Germany ended up with gold in the Olympic women’s track cycling team sprint on Thursday after original winners China were relegated to second for a takeover infringement having earlier broken two world records.

Hosts and medal hopefuls Britain had been disqualified in the first round for another illegal changeover.

Gong Jinjie and Guo Shuang sped round the London Olympic velodrome like lightning in the qualifying and first round, notching world best times of 32.447 and 32.422 seconds.

They were slower in the final but it was still good enough to beat Germany until officials stepped in some minutes after the end of the race to say Guo had made a mistake on the changeover.

China were therefore bumped down to silver amid angry remonstrations between their team and International Cycling Union officials.

Australia took bronze by beating Ukraine and by the time of the medals ceremony, the Chinese duo had calmed down and accepted the warm applause of the slightly bemused crowd before Germany’s golds were handed out.

Britain were not afforded the luxury of being dropped a position as Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish were disqualified altogether in the first round for individual Olympic champion Pendleton’s error in taking the lead over too soon.

LONDON (Reuters) – Germany ended up with gold in the Olympic women’s track cycling team sprint on Thursday after original winners China were relegated to second for a takeover infringement having earlier broken two world records.

Hosts and medal hopefuls Britain had been disqualified in the first round for another illegal changeover.

Gong Jinjie and Guo Shuang sped round the London Olympic velodrome like lightning in the qualifying and first round, notching world best times of 32.447 and 32.422 seconds.

They were slower in the final but it was still good enough to beat Germany until officials stepped in some minutes after the end of the race to say Guo had made a mistake on the changeover.

China were therefore bumped down to silver amid angry remonstrations between their team and International Cycling Union officials.

Australia took bronze by beating Ukraine and by the time of the medals ceremony, the Chinese duo had calmed down and accepted the warm applause of the slightly bemused crowd before Germany’s golds were handed out.

Britain were not afforded the luxury of being dropped a position as Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish were disqualified altogether in the first round for individual Olympic champion Pendleton’s error in taking the lead over too soon.

LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Germany ended up with gold in the Olympic women’s track cycling team sprint on Thursday after original winners China were relegated to second for a takeover infringement having earlier broken two world records.

Hosts and medal hopefuls Britain had been disqualified in the first round for another illegal changeover.

Gong Jinjie and Guo Shuang sped round the London Olympic velodrome like lightning in the qualifying and first round, notching world best times of 32.447 and 32.422 seconds.

They were slower in the final but it was still good enough to beat Germany until officials stepped in some minutes after the end of the race to say Guo had made a mistake on the changeover.

China were therefore bumped down to silver amid angry remonstrations between their team and International Cycling Union officials.

Australia took bronze by beating Ukraine and by the time of the medals ceremony, the Chinese duo had calmed down and accepted the warm applause of the slightly bemused crowd before Germany’s golds were handed out.

Britain were not afforded the luxury of being dropped a position as Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish were disqualified altogether in the first round for individual Olympic champion Pendleton’s error in taking the lead over too soon.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s BBC runs the country’s most recognised sports person of the year award and although it is only August 1, Tour de France and Olympic time trial champion Bradley Wiggins can pretty much mortgage his house on winning.

The fact fellow rider Mark Cavendish took last year’s award after being crowned world champion and winning the Tour points classification shows how huge cycling has become in Britain in a short space of time having once been seen as a minority sport.

“To be honest I said all year this was the plan. I think I’ve answered all the questions in the last six weeks,” Wiggins said on Wednesday after winning a British record seventh Olympic medal having previously claimed six on the track.

His time trial triumph came just over a week after becoming the first Briton to win the world’s greatest stage race, the gruelling three-week Tour, and helped cure Britain’s pain after favourite Cavendish failed to medal in Saturday’s road race.

A slow start to the London Games in terms of medals will be almost totally forgotten across the host nation now that Wiggins has lived up to all the hype in devastating fashion as he blew away the field just like he had on the Tour.

Wiggins was given the honour of ringing the Olympic bell to start Friday’s opening ceremony while erstwhile track team mate Chris Hoy carried the British flag into the stadium.

British athletes from sports thought of as more popular than cycling looked on with envy but more tributes to Wiggins’ immense work ethic will follow with the BBC award and possibly a knighthood.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s BBC runs the country’s most recognized sports person of the year award and although it is only August 1, Tour de France and Olympic time trial champion Bradley Wiggins can pretty much mortgage his house on winning.

The fact fellow rider Mark Cavendish took last year’s award after being crowned world champion and winning the Tour points classification shows how huge cycling has become in Britain in a short space of time having once been seen as a minority sport.

“To be honest I said all year this was the plan. I think I’ve answered all the questions in the last six weeks,” Wiggins said on Wednesday after winning a British record seventh Olympic medal having previously claimed six on the track.

His time trial triumph came just over a week after becoming the first Briton to win the world’s greatest stage race, the grueling three-week Tour, and helped cure Britain’s pain after favorite Cavendish failed to medal in Saturday’s road race.

A slow start to the London Games in terms of medals will be almost totally forgotten across the host nation now that Wiggins has lived up to all the hype in devastating fashion as he blew away the field just like he had on the Tour.

Wiggins was given the honor of ringing the Olympic bell to start Friday’s opening ceremony while erstwhile track team mate Chris Hoy carried the British flag into the stadium.

British athletes from sports thought of as more popular than cycling looked on with envy but more tributes to Wiggins’ immense work ethic will follow with the BBC award and possibly a knighthood.

LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) – Britain’s BBC runs the country’s most recognised sports person of the year award and although it is only Aug. 1, Tour de France and Olympic time trial champion Bradley Wiggins can pretty much mortgage his house on winning.

The fact fellow rider Mark Cavendish took last year’s award after being crowned world champion and winning the Tour points classification shows how huge cycling has become in Britain in a short space of time having once been seen as a minority sport.

“To be honest I said all year this was the plan. I think I’ve answered all the questions in the last six weeks,” Wiggins said on Wednesday after winning a British record seventh Olympic medal having previously claimed six on the track.

His time trial triumph came just over a week after becoming the first Briton to win the world’s greatest stage race, the gruelling three-week Tour, and helped cure Britain’s pain after favourite Cavendish failed to medal in Saturday’s road race.

A slow start to the London Games in terms of medals will be almost totally forgotten across the host nation now that Wiggins has lived up to all the hype in devastating fashion as he blew away the field just like he had on the Tour.

Wiggins was given the honour of ringing the Olympic bell to start Friday’s opening ceremony while erstwhile track team mate Chris Hoy carried the British flag into the stadium.

British athletes from sports thought of as more popular than cycling looked on with envy but more tributes to Wiggins’ immense work ethic will follow with the BBC award and possibly a knighthood.

LONDON (Reuters) – Favorites Brazil and holders the United States won as expected on Tuesday but Bulgaria’s Tsvetan Sokolov sent mini-shockwaves through the men’s Olympic volleyball with a booming serve that floored fancied Poland 3-1.

At a rocking Earl’s Court Arena decked out with the flags of the competing nations, the second round of six pool matches came and went in a blur of blocks and spikes with only Sokolov’s prodigious leap and Pete Sampras-like serve standing out.

The U.S. were perfectly efficient in their easy 3-0 win over Germany while world champions Brazil sparkled in patches in a 3-0 success over Beijing bronze medalists Russia, but the wow factor came in the early east European clash.

Poland, who should still easily make the last eight with the top four in each six-team group going through, had almost the perfect build-up to the London Games after victory in the World League this month cemented their place as gold medal hopefuls.

Bulgaria’s preparations had been nothing short of farcical with their coach and best player quitting immediately after Olympic qualification in a row with federation bosses.

Yet with Poland virtually playing as a home team in front a fervent 15,000 fans in west London, which boasts a large Polish community, Bulgaria turned the tables in style to top Pool A as the only side on a maximum six points from two matches.

With three preliminary games left, much-hyped Poland know they must rediscover the form from Sunday’s triumph over Italy.