Anna Meares’ emotional reunion with bitter rival Victoria Pendleton

Paris: Those attending the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome on Tuesday night missed an unlikely reunion between two of track cycling’s most bitter rivals: Australia’s Anna Meares and Great Britain’s Victoria Pendleton.

Meares, Australia’s impressive chef de mission, walked into the broadcast tribune where Pendleton was calling, tapped her on the shoulder and they embraced and chatted.

Anna Meares and Victoria Pendleton at the velodrome in Paris on Wednesday night.

What she told her will shock those who remember the fierce contests, the endless stories in the media and even Meares’ own autobiography, which detailed their long-running feud.

“You were the best,” Meares told Pendleton.

As Meares told me later that night: “She undersells herself immensely. I just wanted to hammer that home: she was literally the best. And I had to be so much better to be in the competition. It’s nice we both came away from London with a gold medal each, even though it was in each other’s discipline.”

It speaks to Meares’ humility that she can say as much because the enmity between the pair was palpable at the Beijing and London games.

In Beijing in 2008, Pendleton claimed gold in the women’s sprint ahead of Meares, who only seven months earlier had broken her neck in a horrific cycling accident.

Two years later, at the world championships, Pendleton delivered one of the ultimate insults when she told a reporter she’d beaten China’s Guo Shuang in the final in Beijing when Meares had beaten her in the semi.

Pendleton had rewritten history, just to get under the grill of her opponent.

Four years later, the showdown between the pair was hyped as one of the headline events of the Games.

The UK press was ruthless and cruel, painting a picture of Meares as an “ugly coalminer’s daughter” up against “Queen Victoria”.

Anna Meares beats Victoria Pendleton to win gold at the 2012 Olympics.Credit: Getty

“Enjoy your silver,” a Heathrow customs officer told Meares when she arrived in London.

What the customs officer, Fleet Street and Pendleton herself didn’t know was that Meares and her team had worked for three years on a project called “Know Thy Enemy”.

Meares’s coach, Gary West, recruited Australian men’s team member Alex Bird to impersonate Pendleton’s style in simulated races. She stopped uttering Pendleton’s name and referred to her as “Alex” instead.

“That was the whole point – we got her out of my head,” Meares recalled. “So I raced against Alex and that added to the data collection and information that we had that took the emotion out of the rivalry, which allowed me to compete against the best in the world.”

Anna Meares in 2008 with her coach Gary West, who devised the “Know Thy Enemy” strategy.Credit: Getty Images

In the first race of the final, Pendleton finished first, but was disqualified after officials ruled she had moved illegally off her line. Meares had a 1-0 lead.

In the second race, Meares forced Pendleton to take the lead with two laps remaining by virtually coming to a standstill. She stalked her to the final bend, where she slingshotted to the lead and won gold.

A hero is only as good as their villain but, over time, the animosity has thawed and they message regularly. Pendleton is carrying a heavy heart following the death of her twin brother, Alex, to an aggressive brain tumour last year.

“I know she’s been through some hard times with the loss of her brother,” Meares said. “It was really nice to see her tonight. I’d sent her a message because I saw that she was here and I wanted to catch up. It was really lovely. It’s been a while.”

After catching up, they settled in to watch the men’s team sprint. Australia won bronze, not just ending 24 years of Olympic frustration in the event but also giving veteran Matthew Glaetzer a medal in his final Games.

Watching on at the track was coach Alex Bird, who was in tears.

“There are so many people behind the scenes who don’t get medals, who don’t get headlines, that have so much joy in helping someone else’s success,” Meares said.

“Alex has been working on that team sprint for so many years. He’s super smart and critical to the team. The losses have been narrowly fought. It was nice to see that outpouring of emotion.”

Skate star sends out for Maccas

A late night at the athletics at Stade de France meant an even later return on the bus to the Main Press Centre in Paris – but it did allow for a chance meeting with Australia’s latest and youngest gold medal winner.

Skateboarder Arisa Trew, 14, had earlier that day won the women’s park event and here she was, at 11pm, riding her skateboard in her green and gold tracksuit.

Arisa Trew won gold, and then sent her chaperone to pick up McDonald’s fries.Credit: AP

I asked her if she had pulled off a 900, which is 2½ rotations in midair, just as she had done in a competition in May.

“Noooooo!” she chuckled, sounding every bit like a 14-year-old.

Last year, Trew became the first woman to land a 720, which is two rotations.

Because of her tender age, Trew and her fellow skateboarders have a chaperone in Paris: former diver Brittany Broben, who competed in London in 2012.

Broben said Trew didn’t feel like she required someone shadowing her every move because she competes around the world all year on her own.

Instead, Broben was dispatched to a nearby McDonald’s to fetch her some fries, but not a burger because she doesn’t eat meat.

Bercy Arena’s billion-dollar dunk

With the possible exception of an NBA All-Stars match, which no longer means anything anyway, the Bercy Arena on Wednesday was home to the most expensive sporting talent in Olympic history.

No less than 11 of the last 13 NBA most valuable players were on show in the men’s basketball quarter-finals.

Million-dollar men LeBron James (left) and Steph Curry in action for the United States.Credit: AP

Team USA’s Steph Curry ($US215.3 million/$330 million), Joel Embiid ($US213.2m), Kevin Durant ($US194.2m) and LeBron James ($US101.3m); Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo ($US175.3m); and Serbia’s Nikola Jokic ($US276m) took the court in the four matches held throughout the day.

That’s about $US1.1 billion and loose change between them. And we haven’t even factored in French superstar Victor Wembanyama’s $55m contract.

Before Serbia’s match against the Boomers, Jokic looked like an old man shuffling up and down the court during the warm-up.

By the end of it, the Denver Nuggets centre looked every bit like the best player in the world.

He was relatively quiet in the first half as Josh Giddey dominated both ends of the court and veteran Patty Mills scored at will.

Leading by 24 points in the second quarter, Australia were on their way to the semi-finals, all set up to improve on the bronze medal won in Tokyo three years ago.

But the match turned on its head after an innocuous collision between Dante Exum and Serbia’s Aleksa Avramović, who comically fell to the court twice clutching his arm … which Exum never touched.

Australia’s Patty Mills takes it up to Serbian Aleksa Avramovic. Credit: AP

A review ended in Exum inexplicably fouled for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Jokic stepped up in the second half, while Australia kept turning over possession at critical times.

Giddey hurt his ankle failing to make a lay-up with seconds remaining, limping to the bench after full-time.

It was a sad sight, sure, but not as sad as watching Mills struggling to leave the court, knowing this was likely his final match for the Boomers.

As for Jokic, his stat line read: 21 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists, four steals … and $276m.

THE QUOTE

“I like my fish and people are finding worms in the fish. It’s just not good enough.” – Great Britain swimming great Adam Peaty. Think of the extra protein!

THUMBS UP

With the setting sun illuminating the vast eastern grandstand of Stade de France, USA’s Cole Hocker caused a major boilover in the men’s 1500m, sneaking up on the inside to beat Great Britain’s Josh Kerr on the line. Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the defending Olympic champion, finished fourth. It was some night at the track, which included USA’s Gabby Thomas winning the women’s 200m.

American Cole Hocker crosses the finish line ahead of Great Britain’s Josh Kerr and fourth-placed Jakob Ingebrigtsen.Credit: nna\KCampbell

THUMBS DOWN

Paraguay has kicked swimmer/influencer Luana Alonso from the Olympic Village for acting more like a tourist than athlete after she snuck out to visit Disneyland Paris and other events, which she posted on Instagram for her 669,000 followers. “Her presence is creating an inappropriate atmosphere within Team Paraguay,” the Paraguayan Olympic Committee said in a statement.

It’s a big day in Paris for … Australia’s Keegan Palmer, the defending Olympic champion, in the men’s park skateboarding at Place de la Concorde, where it is expected to be hotter than hell – or a packed Paris train – when competition is held on Wednesday afternoon.

It’s an even bigger day in Paris for … Australia’s Peter Bol, who lines up in the first round of the men’s 800m at Stade de France, along with teammates Joseph Deng and Craig Peyton. Word out of the village is Bol, who finished fourth in Tokyo three years ago, has impressed coaches and athletes from other countries in training.

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