Cycling

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Basics

Cycling features events contested at the Olympic velodrome, on the streets of the city, and over the mountain and BMX courses.  Here is a list of the events to be contested at the 2012 London Games. 

Track cycling events (Men's and women's)

Kristin Armstrong won the United States' only gold medal in cycling, at the women's individual time trial.

The Olympic track cycling program will see numerous changes in 2012. Now, the same five events will be contested both by men and women. A new event, the Omnium - cycling's version of the decathlon - has been added, while the team pursuit, team sprint and keirin have been added to the women's program. The men's and women's pursuits and points races and men's Madison have been removed.

Omnium
Keirin
Individual sprint
Team sprint
Team pursuit

The London Velopark will host all 10 track cycling events.

Road cycling events (Men's and women's)

Individual road race
Individual time trial

Regent's Park will host all four road cycling events.

Mountain bike events (Men's and women's)

Individual cross-country

Hadleigh Park in Essex will host the mountain biking competition.

BMX (Men's and women's)

Individual

The London Velopark will host the BMX competition.

Beijing recap

If results at the 2008 Games are any indication of 2012 success, the home crowd experience plenty of joy at the London Games. Great Britain won 14 medals, more than twice the number of any other nation. 32-year-old Chris Hoy (three) and Bradley Wiggins (two) won gold medals in five of the seven  events in men's track cycling, while Victoria Pendleton and Rebecca Romero each won one gold for the GBR women on the track. Nicole Cooke also claimed a gold for the British on the road, winning the distance race.

The U.S. finished third in the medal standings, with five. Kristin Armstrong won the women's individual time trial, while Levi Leipheimer earned bronze in the the men's version of the same event. The other three medals were picked up in the newest event, BMX, where Mike Day (silver) and Donny Robinson and Jill Kintner (both bronze) left Beijing with hardware.

France's Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli competed in her seventh Games at age 49, and came within two seconds of her fifth-career Olympic medal with a fourth-place finish in the women's individual time trial.