Australian cycling set for major overhaul after disappointing Rio Olympics

AUSSIE cycling is in for a widescale review as it searches for what went so wrong on the track at the Rio Olympics where arch rival Great Britain wiped the floor.

Matthew Glaetzer in action during the Men's Keirin Second round.

AUSTRALIAN cycling is in for a widescale review as it searches for what went so wrong on the track at the Rio Olympics where arch rival Great Britain wiped the floor with six gold medals to its none.

High performance manager Kevin Tabotta said Australia had clearly not made the same gains as GB since the world championships in March as they walked away with a solitary silver and bronze which was well below their expectations of four medals and some gold.

While GB topped the medal tally the Aussies finished seventh.

“It’s not the week we’d been aiming for, that’s for sure,” Tabotta said.

“We had a bit of misfortune leading into that but that’s not the reason for performing below our own expectations.

“We had some good shifts in times from the world championships but you need to be able to shift at a rate that’s better than any other nation and for the most part we shifted with every other nation.

“Clearly one nation moved ahead of the rest and made some pretty significant gains in a short period and we weren’t able to match that.

Annette Edmondson was unable to get a medal during Women's Omnium.

“It’s not through lack of effort, we had some great camps, some great commitment from our athletes ... but what didn’t happen was a conversion here so it’s going to take a little time to go back and absorb what’s happened and review the information we’ve got.

“We’ll look at the good, bad ugly and what could we do different? Clearly one nation has got it more right than any other.”

But Tabotta said he backed his athletes, selection decisions and coaches 100 per cent.

“The best athletes that we have and the best coaches that we have are here, absolutely,” Tabotta said.

“Our athletes are busting their backsides to be at the top level and so what we need to do is look a little bit deeper as to why we haven’t moved from March to August at the same rate, particularly as Great Britain.”

Earlier, Annette Edmondson has fought back tears explaining the disappointment the proud cycling nation feels at missing out on a gold medal on the track in Rio.

Edmondson finished Australia’s campaign with eighth place in the women’s omnium today while Matthew Glaetzer was 10th in the men’s keirin.

Australia is narrowly ahead of its cycling campaign in Beijing in 2008 when it one just one silver medal with BMX and mountain bike competition still to come in Rio this week.

“I think it’s just disappointment,” an emotional Edmondson said post-race.

“As a cycling nation we’re pretty good so for us not to go home with a gold medal is pretty hard, we’re just going to have to go back to the drawing board and work out what it is we can do better.

Australian Matthew Glaetzer had a small crash during the Men's Keirin.

“We wouldn’t do the sport if we didn’t enjoy it so I think we’ve just got to get through these hard times and it’s the times you pull it off that make it worth it.”

The 24-year-old was a dual world champion last year when she won the team pursuit and omnium in Paris.

But this year she surrendered both world titles to Great Britain and the US in London two weeks after being hit by a car.

The women’s team pursuit squad had high hopes for Rio this week but suffered a big setback when the team crashed at 55km/h in training.

Despite the setbacks in the Australian camp, Edmondson said the mood had stayed upbeat.

“I think that’s something Australia is really good at doing, bouncing back from adversity,” she said.

“Even though we’ve had a bit of bad luck we still gave it everything and didn’t let go of that dream, given everything that happened we gave it every opportunity to do our best.

“And unfortunately our best wasn’t enough this time.”

Edmondson was fourth in the omnium going into the final leg of the event but didn’t have the legs in the points race and slipped to eighth as Laura Trott won Great Britain’s fifth gold medal of the meet.

The cycling team now shifts its focus to BMX which begins tomorrow and mountain bike on the weekend with high hopes of breaking its gold medal drought.

[e-mail]

Originally published as Australian cycling set for major overhaul after disappointing Rio Olympics