Madison is a track cycling event in which riders contested as a part of a team to complete a fixed distance. It is a type of relay event with two riders, where only one rider from each team is active at an giver point of the race. Riders can switch at any time during the race and for any number of times.
Madison was a part of the Olympics only for a brief span of three Olympics from 2000 to 2008. It was a 200 lap 50km race on all three occasions. The team event was conducted only for men in all the three summer games.
In 2000, Australia won the gold medal, Belgium took the silver and Italy picked up the bronze. In 2004, Australia won the gold medal again, but this time it was two totally different riders from the previous games. Switzerland won the silver and Great Britain took bronze. The Aussies won the event with a much higher margin in 2004 than from the previous Olympics.
In the 2008 Beijing games, three completely different teams that had not finished in the podium in the last two times won in a closely contested race. Argentina won the gold, Spain took the silver and Russia finished with the bronze.
Related Pages
- Full list of Discontinued Cycling Events at the Olympics
- Cycling at the Olympics
- Full list of all Discontinued Sports
- Cycling pages