Matt Glaetzer had made a sensational comeback from thyroid cancer and then from a torn calf in preparation for the Olympics. He was withdrawn from the men's sprint after falling off the pace in the men's team sprint bronze medal ride, focusing everything on being right for the keirin.
He produced consistent performances in the heats, then showed a great turn of speed in the semi finals to storm into the final as one of the favourites.
During the derny section, Kenny was positioned first, with Glaetzer second in line and as the e-derny leading the race went into the final half lap, Glaetzer allowed a gap to form between him and Kenny.
After the derny swung off, Glaetzer appeared to be anticipating a rider coming from behind to fill the gap and lead the chase to Kenny as he put down a slow tempo, but no one did and as Kenny realised the lead he had gained, he hit out in a full-speed effort for the finish.
Glaetzer upped the pace to lead the chasers behind, as did the others behind, but Kenny was too far gone, and won comfortably. Azizulhasni Awang, representing Malaysia, but also with a strong connection to the Australian cycling community through his training and competition, finished second to claim silver, just ahead of sprint gold medallist Harrie Lavreysen in third.
“We haven’t seen this at an Olympic final before in a keirin,” Channel 7 commentator Scott McGrory said in the aftermath. “What an upset in terms of tactics. That was outrageous.”
Australian cycling great Anna Meares, world champion in the keirin added: “That was just phenomenal … (Glaetzer) let the gap go too far.
“Jason Kenny capitalised on the opportunity. No-one could bring him back. I don’t think even he can believe it.”
Glaetzer was downcast after the race but felt he could hold his head high after the battle to get back to full health following his cancer diagnosis and subsequent issues.
"To be honest I'm so glad it's over, I gave it my all, it's been a really tough prep, really long and been focused to take it one race at a time," Glaetzer said.
"It's been a difficult road to get here and I made sure I put my best foot forward and left it all out on the track and I'm happy I did that."
Glaetzer was one of the figure heads of the Australian Cycling Team that finished the Tokyo Olympics with a gold for Logan Martin in the BMX Freestyle, a bronze for Rohan Dennis in the men's individual time trial and a bronze for the men's team pursuit squad after an equipment failure kept them out of the fight for gold.
"That's sport, you can only do your best and sometimes things need to fall your way and unfortunately they haven't for me personally in terms of medals," said Glaetzer.
"There's always such a big focus on medals in our sport but I'm really proud to be here representing my country, doing the best I physically can, and yet it would be nice to get a souvenir at the end of it, I have a larger perspective on things these days and I'm privileged to ride my bike for Australia.
"I'm grateful to be living this life at the moment and I tell you what, I'm looking forward to my holiday."
That time off will continue to the end of 2021, with the world champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist set to take time off the bike.
"I can guarantee you I won't be at the world championships this year, I'm going to take at least four months off, I need it," Glaetzer said.
"The extra 12 months gave me a free-kick to get my body right for these Games but it was tough, so I'm looking forward to getting back to my friends and family and enjoy not being an athlete for a while, just relax."
The Australian Olympic Team and Australian Cycling Team have seen their social media posts inundated with a mixture of abuse and ill-wishes, mostly from apparent Malaysian supporters. One tweet garnered over 400 quote tweets, with the replies questioning the use of 'outstanding tactics' in the text.
The race could also have been stopped by commissaires by application of UCI regulation 3.2.142, which states:
"The race will be stopped if one or more riders are at fault or behave in an unsporting manner while being placed behind the derny. The race will be rerun without the rider(s) at fault, which will be penalised depending on the gravity of the situation (relegation with a warning, or disqualification)."
