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Dancing with ourselves

11 October 2010 | 0:00 - By Mike Tomalaris

It's always enjoyable watching Australians win medals on the boards but the track squads dominant Commonwealth Games performance was not indicative of our true strength, writes Mike Tomalaris.

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Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch won gold medal in the women's team sprint (AAP)

How good was the track cycling program at the Commonwealth Games last week?

I mean how good is Australia - really?

If you didn't know better, you'd think we have the best nation on two wheels on the planet by a mile.

Problem is the real cycling world is not represented in Delhi, and the truth is Australia is possibly the only fully developed cycling nation which had bothered to take its strongest squad to the Games.

"Gold, gold, gold to Australia" has been the constant cry from those calling the action on TV and radio in the last few days.

But is it surprising given so much real opposition never made the trek to India? Yes, I'm looking at you Sir Chris Hoy.

Of course, you can only race against those who turn up and the Australians were left to compete largely against themselves - practically tripping over each other in the medal rush.

Australia's national anthem was on speed-dial in the velodrome.

But when ignorant sections of the commercial news media constantly talk-up our two-wheel warriors as if they're super heroes, then it's time blog about it.

Anna Meares, Cameron Meyer, Shane Perkins and Jack Bobridge are the best in their respective fields but are they unbeatable?

In most cases, yes, but that's not the point.

Did you see the way Australia's team pursuit carved up the Kiwis for the gold medal? The Aussies were incredible but the Kiwis just weren't in the same velodrome.

What about the way Megan Dunn left rivals in her wake as if they were standing still on the last two laps of the women's scratch race?

Simply awesome! But again, where were the rest?

And did you see the way Meyer outsmarted everyone else on the track in the men's equivalent?

He was superb and justifies his place as a star of the future, but he was racing against himself.

There's no doubt we have a marvelous array of talent showing their wares and there's no question each is a wonderful advertisement to the sport and brilliant role models and ambassadors to their nation.

But I feel the lop-sided competition in Delhi is doing more harm than good to cycling, even if several PBs were recorded, not to mention the many Games records that were set.

When one country obliterates the opposition in every race it contests, I feel it doesn't conform to the true spirit of sport anymore.

I say bring on the track World Championships in March next year, or wait until the London Olympics to compare notes and results.

Only then can Australia be in a position to continue its chest-beating and claim cycling superiority.

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08 Nov 2010 12:34 AEST

Tony

From: Melbourne

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Tomolaris and Tan - are they on the same wavelenght as each other......or even on the same wavelength as the cycling fans and public. This blog dances around saying that these athletes' triumphs are not really worth saying. And Tan on his twitter account said that he or nobody else cares about the comm games efforts. Then you interview Rochelle Gilmore on bike shorts and don't put this opinion forward??? If you have an opinion (as absrud as it is) you should at least have the courage to put it to these athletes in person and cop what comes back at you. I only hope that the athletes that competed in the comm games are aware of Tan's attitude and never give him the time of day

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13 Oct 2010 9:26 AEST

Amy

From: Melbourne

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I thought the track world championships were in December, in Melbourne??

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12 Oct 2010 17:51 AEST

Matt O

From: Melbourne

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You could quite easily take the specific focus of this article, the Australian Cycling Squad, including men, women, track and road, and replace with 'Australian Commonwealth Games Team' in total. Australia leads the medal tally by about 2 million medals last time i checked. Is it obvious to everyone these games are a type of B Games? Probably, the cyclones have merely done the business as professionally as you like. I also doubt the Commonwealth Games are capable of damaging any sport, as is claimed (ridiculously) towards the end of this 'blog'. If the British (England, Scotland) had actually sent a top flight squad to what is in effect 'their' games, well, it wouldn't have mattered that France, Italy, Spain et al weren't competing, we would've seen the best two track cycling nations in the world going head to head, race after race. Sure, any achievements made are to be kept in perspective, but no doubt had they done any less, dare i say a different topic would be appearing as the heading above, and a few would be somewhat concerned looking ahead to London 2010.

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12 Oct 2010 13:23 AEST

Rachel

From: Sydney

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Yeah,I really hate getting any chance to see Anna Meares ,Meyer and Bobridge going for it too Tomo. Because other than highlights on CC which u can't watch on your iPhone anyway we see it all the time hey? I'm sure they hate the chance to compete against the clock too in their oz colours.

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12 Oct 2010 12:02 AEST

Carrie G

From: Avoca Beach

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The Comm Games should be reserved exclusively for Australia's development cycling teams. Why do think so many riders who were originally selected chose not to go? Pro riders should be banned from road squads. As for the track I reckon only Aussie riders under a certain age (say 21) should only be selected.

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12 Oct 2010 6:10 AEST

Mac

From: uk

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I agree - we expect to see the best competitiors racing each other. Unfortunately the Olympics (in my opinion) won't be a 'real' competition either. Each country will only be allowed to put forward one competitor for each event, to stop one country 'wiping the boards'. Ok an Olympic silver medal is great but if you know that there are several other competitors who might have beaten you but weren't allowed to compete (with full UCI backing), does it take some of the shine off it ?

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12 Oct 2010 1:50 AEST

David

From: United States

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I agree with the article to some extent. I believe the level as a whole wasn't there, but there was a considerable amount of competition. The Kiwi sprint team was there in full force for example. I think the lack of depth is what made it easier to get closer to the final and then did what they did. Another possibility might just be sending a secondary squad or a inexperienced team to get them used to the pressure.

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11 Oct 2010 16:29 AEST

Banjo

From: Perth

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Hi Mike, Very good point and well said. But, how about the way the Aussie women go about the road races? a joke really. The tactics are really simple, sit behind everyone else, never do any of the work and then pop out at the end and take victory, with arms in the air like a hero ( no wonder some of the other girls seemed to be having some very harsh words to the Aussies during the race). Tactics are all part of racing, but lets imagine if every team adopted the Aussie tactics? the race would never leave the start line because nobody would take the lead, if they are so bloody great then get out there and race. The real winners in that race were the Kiwis, they came out and really raced. As patriotic as I am I certainly didn't get any pleasure out of the way the Aussie girls raced, none at all.

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11 Oct 2010 16:16 AEST

Bilby

From: N.T

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Yeah, shame about not having all the Cycling Nations there........their loss not ours. Gold is Gold. Our team were no "slouches" either Tomo'. I think there were a few Comm' Games records beaten too..... Obviously some "guns" were looking further ahead to qualifying for London '12 but hey, why be part of the "Commonwealth" if you don't participate? Same could be said of the Games overall, it ain't the Olympics is it? I think it's "the runs on the board" that count. We get to see our Aussie Talent riding for us instead of pro-teams and the like. Gotta look hard for the green&gold on their team kit. Kiddies, this is where you start your realistic dreams with a brillant team like our Cyclones.

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11 Oct 2010 16:12 AEST

Chefvalvasori

From: Melbourne

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Pretty typical of most media in Australia (with exception to SBS's football & cycling coverage). They love to appear to be experts on everything they can bit the rights to. Channel 10 commented after the worlds in Geelong, that Cadel Evans finished 'way back in 17th position'. Did they see the race? Or did they just want to cut down the tall poppy? I thought Cadel finished on the same time as Thor hushdov. Not really way back is it?!

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