In recent years it has been Great Britain which has dominated the boards, winning many titles in the velodrome and coming away from the last Olympics with a glittering haul of track medals. It took seven gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes, eclipsing nearest rivals Spain which told just one medal of each colour.
In Beijing, Australia picked up just one silver medal, and was clearly being a long, long away from the days when it used to dominate on the track.
Two years later, there are signs that things have been turned right around. Earlier this season, Australia had pulled ahead of its big rival at the world track championships in Ballerup. It snagged six gold medals, two silvers and two bronze medals for a total of ten. Britain picked up just three wins, bringing up its medal total to nine thanks to five runner-up slots and one bronze.
Fast forward to the Commonwealth Games, and the signs are more worrying for GB and the other teams. The track events finished today and Australia simply crushed the other nations, taking twelve out of the 14 gold medals handed out. It also clocked up three silver and two bronze medals for a total of 16 visits to the podium.
Great Britain’s strength may have been diluted by being split into England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, but those riders between them took just five silver medals and four bronze. Even though some key names such as Hoy and Pendleton were missing, it’s a statistic that has to be worrying for the nation that will host the next Olympic Games.
Australia, meanwhile, is on a confidence high. National coach Shayne Bannan can take pride from how things have gone, but he said that he will keep pushing the riders to improve and consolidate their strong position. “We feel that we've still got a few challenges in front of us, there's no question, but we're on the right track," he said, according to ABC Sport. “The Olympics Games is another level again, there are still world records to be beaten.”
Part of what is most encouraging for Australia is that its winners in Delhi will still be under 30 in London 2012. In fact, all bar one of them will be 25 or younger. Cameron Meyer took gold in the team pursuit and dominated both the scratch race and points race. He’s a mere 22 years of age, while another triple gold medallist, Anna Meares, is just 27. Unbelievably, she is the oldest of the medal winners.
The others are all at least four years her junior. Women’s points race and scratch race winner Megan Dunn is only 19. The others are kilo victor Scott Sunderland (22), quickest sprinter Shane Perkins (23), men’s pursuit champion Jack Bobridge (21), fellow team pursuit riders Michael Hepburn (19) and Dale Parker (18), team sprint riders Daniel Ellis (22), Jason Niblett (22) and Kaarle McCulloch (22), who took team sprint gold with Meares.
When you consider that the two most successful British riders of recent years, Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Bradley Wiggins, are 34, 30 and 30 respectively, it shows the task that lies ahead if Great Britain is to repeat its success.
The team does have some very promising riders coming through, but the sheer number of successful young Australian riders must be a concern. Physiologically, they can only improve between now and London 2012, giving Australia a wave of competitors who will be hitting peak form in two years’ time.
What complicates things for Great Britain is the fact that the man who oversaw the recent track success is now running Team Sky. Dave Brailsford has said that he feels capable of overseeing both, but this dual role has been subjected to a review in order to verify if this is the case.
Nobody doubts his ability to develop riders and motivate them to perform well. It remains to be seen if he can continue to wear two hats, or if he will have to concentrate fully on the track in order to ensure a successful Olympics.
There’s less than two years to go until the start of the Games, the clock is ticking, and a cluster of Australian riders will head home with smiles on their faces and gold medals in their luggage.