Anna Meares: I didn’t say that Great Britain are cheats over track cycling dominance at Rio Olympics

ANNA Meares has taken to Twitter to clarify her comments about Britain’s dominance on the track in Rio saying she never insinuated they had cheated.

ANNA Meares has taken to Twitter to clarify her comments about Great Britain’s dominance on the track in Rio saying she never insinuated they had cheated or done anything wrong.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist bowed out of her fourth Games in Rio yesterday and was asked about Team GB which has won four gold medals with three more to be decided today.

Meares said she like other countries including France and Germany were asking questions as to why Great Britain had been able to dominate the competition without performing at the world championships in March.

Today she took to Twitter to issue the following:

“I would like to clarify that I never said or insinuated that #TeamGB are cheating or doing anything suspicious!

“What I said was it makes me scratch my head to think how we can be better competitive with them at the Olympics. That’s what great rivals, teams and champions like GBR do.

“They’re an amazing team and their athletes and staff deserve the success that’s come their way”.

Earlier this week, Team GB’s head coach Iain Dyer told News Corp he believed Great Britain’s track dominance in Beijing and London was psyching rival teams out but he denied they had been hiding their form in-between Olympic years.

Meares ended these Games with a single bronze medal in the Keirin.

Germany’s Kristina Vogel and France’s Michael D’Almeida have also said they are puzzled by Great Britain’s near unbeatable form this week.

Today Dyer was asked if he was offended by the comments and said “if what I am hearing is true, yes, it is”.

“It’s a shame, I can only point to the fact you can look at athletes here who are simply not at their best,” Dyer told The Daily Mail.

“We’ve won 12 world titles since London 2012. If that makes us cannon fodder coming into the Olympics then so be it.

I would like to clarify that I never said or insinuated that #TeamGB are cheating or doing anything suspicious! pic.twitter.com/CjIa7vvWjd

— Anna Meares (@AnnaMeares) August 16, 2016

“I have no gripes with Anna. She’s a remarkable athlete and been an absolute torch bearer for cycling and women’s track cycling.

“(But) any athlete moments after coming down from not achieving what they targeted or dreamt of achieving is understandably going to be disappointed about that.

“Hopefully on reflection she can just see that we are all just trying our hardest and doing a great job.”

[e-mail]

Originally published as Anna Meares: I didn’t say that Great Britain are cheats over track cycling dominance at Rio Olympics