CYCLING The track cycling events were held in the Helsinki Velodrome on July 28th, 29th and 31st, the road race on Aug. 2nd along the so-called Olympic route: Kâpylâ—Pakila—Maunula— Kâpylà. The weather, rainy during the first week of the Games, had turned fine, and the temperature rose. During the road race the heat was actually fatiguing. There were 214 entries from 36 countries. The Union Cycliste Internationale had ap­ pointed the judge at the finish and four Commissaires to control the technical arrangements. On the first day collaboration between the Commissaires and the Olympic Cycling Committee was not altogether smooth. This gave rise to departures from the time-table. On the second day matters improved. The number of spectators at the track events was a disappointment — on an average about two thousand per occasion. The road race attracted far more attention. Track Events The first Gold Medal to be decided in this sport was for the 4 000 metres team pursuit In the second repechage in the i ooo metres scratch race a hurst tyre caused Le Normand, France, to fall, bringing down with him Martens oj "Belgium. on the evening of July 29th, the other finals not taking place until July 31st. In the first round each team rode alone, the eight fastest qualifying for the quarter-finals. Italy clocked the best time — 4 mins 49.4 sees — but altogether 13 teams finished within 5 minutes (in In the i 000 metres scratch event the 1951 World Champion, Sacchi of Italy, seemed certain London only two). While the Finnish team was riding N. Henriksson's handlebar snapped of victory after his performances in the opening round and quarter and semi-finals. and he took a flyer on the track. With only three men left to make the pace the Finns failed Surprise winners in the first round were Gimenez of Argentine and Szekeres of Hungary. to do as well as had been hoped. Italy, Great Britain and France won their quarter-finals The second repechage in the quarter-finals brought a regrettable collision. Gimenez was comfortably, but South Africa had to go all out to finish ahead of Belgium. leading at the last bend with the Belgian Martens close up on the outside when the French­ Italy and Great Britain were drawn together in the semi-finals. This resulted in the fastest man Le Normand, coming up from behind, attempted to dash past the Belgian but caught times for the whole event: Italy 4.45.7, Great Britain 4.49.4. The duel between South Africa in his back wheel. Both fell and with their cycles rolled off the cement onto the grass. Le and France ended with the retirement of two members of the French team. South Africa was Normand had to be given hospital treatment and was unable to participate in the re-ride declared the winner while still 200 metres from the finishing line, her time then being 4.41.2. demanded by the rules. Martens, too, felt the effects of his injuries in the collision so much In the finals Italy parted company with South Africa at half-distance, and from then on was that he was unable to put up a fight in the re-ride. never for a moment threatened. France challenged Great Britain so determinedly that only The semi-finals were won by Sacchi and Cox (Australia). Potzernheim (Germany) joined after time-pieces had been checked was Britain declared to have been in front. them in the final from the repechage. In the final Sacchi demonstrated the superiority of the In the 1 000 metres time trial on the morning of July 31st there were 27 competitors. Italian school by beating Cox by a narrow but safe margin. Kato of japan led off. Times remained modest until the sixth rider, Robinson of South Almost immediately afterwards came the final for the 2 000 metres tandem event. Cox — Africa, clocked 1 min. 13.0 sees, 0.5 sees faster than the winner in London. Robinson's partnered by Mockridge, winner of the time trial — now made up for his recent defeat by time was long the best. Cortoni (Argentine), who started thirteenth, came closest to it with gaining a second Gold Medal for Australia. Only once prior to the Games had the two 1. 13.2, and almost as fast was the next rider, McKellow of Great Britain, with 1.13.3. The been partners on a tandem. Perhaps that was why they were nearly defeated in the first twentieth starter, Australia's Mockridge, then put up a brilliant performance, finishing in the semi-final by the Danish pair, only the photo-finish giving them the verdict. The South new Olympic record time of 1.11.1. Even the Italian Morettini, last but one to start, was African partners Robinson — Shardelow put up the best finishing spurts in the heats but unable to improve on that, but took second place with 1.12.7. Of the London participants in had to yield to the Australians in the final. France was obliged to surrender third place to this event only the Finn Onni Kaslin was present in Helsinki. Shortly before the Games he Italy without contesting it. Le Normand being in no condition to ride after his collision in had set up a new track record of 1.13.8, only to fail in the Games through undue tension. the scratch race. 540 • 541 Source : Bibliothèque du CIO / IOC Library Italy emerged as the leading nation in the track events. Noteworthy, too, were the achieve­ ments of the Australian and South African cyclists. Anglo-Saxon track cycling thrust to CYCLING COMMITTEE the fore with unexpected vigour, leaving the Central European cycling nations, except for President A. PALAMAA Italy, in the shade. Secretary P. PALAMAA Members ; I. AHVENLAHTI S. HERLEVI Cycle Road Race S. LAHTINEN N. MATTSSON The concerted effort of the young Belgian cyclists Noyelle, Grondelaers and Victor in Chr. OESCH B. OSTROW the 190.4 km road race brought off a brilliant team victory. At the same time Noyelle won S. SARIO the individual event, Grondelaers finished second and Victor fourth. The race was a triumph O. VIANDER for Belgium. H. WISTBACKA Of the 112 starters 52 rode the distance to the end. Out of 27 teams only 13 completed the COMISSAIRES FOR THE TRACK RACE course. Losses by the way were due less to the heat and punctures than to the stiff pace set from the beginning and the ruling by the Commissaires that an outlapped competitor H. MEYER-ANDERSEN, Denmark M. METZGER, Switzerland must withdraw from the race. M. KERRION, Mexico Within the space of five laps 11 competitors had dropped out. In the sixth lap the Swede M. MAGNINI, Italy Mârtensson boldly broke away from the field and was at one time 45 seconds ahead of the next in order. The others caught up with him in the eighth lap. At half-distance a leading COMISSAIRES FOR THE ROAD RACE group of nine had formed, headed by Van't Hoff of Holland. In the middle group a rather A. STANDAERT, Belgium dangerous collision in the ninth lap resulted in about a score of falls. Luckily, no ambulances M. STAVREFF, Bulgaria M. FRICCERIO, Uruguay were needed, but several cycles were smashed up or so badly damaged that many riders were forced to retire. CHIEF JUDGE In the eleventh lap the Belgian trio set such a hot pace that only van Maenen of Holland A. PALAMAA and Ziegler of Germany were able to hang on to them. Keeping up the pace, these five drew steadily away from the rest. In the fourteenth lap van Maenen dropped behind, but CHIEFS FOR THE TRACK RACE Ziegler continued to challenge the Belgians. Well behind the leading group a second group H. WISTBACKA of eleven fought for the next places until, in the fifteenth lap, Bruni of Italy made a decisive N. MATTSSON break-away. Belgium's team victory was assured by the start of the last lap. Noyelle began an all-out CHIEFS FOR THE ROAD RACE spurt and was soon a couple of hundred metres in front of his countrymen and the German. S. LAHTINEN Halfway through the lap, at Pakila, Grondelaers made sure of second place, leaving Victor S. SARIO and Ziegler to fight out the third place on the home straight. In this duel the German was stronger. COMPETITIONS SECRETARIES The cycle road race in the XV Olympic Games differed from its two predecessors in the R. KARUNKA respect that the first places wete decided in the course of the race and not by a struggle E. KILJUNEN between a bunch of competitors spurting down the finishing straight. The time-keepers JURY SECRETARIES and the judge were not unanimous in determining the order of finish of the rearguard. The high standard of the road race is shown by the winner's time, which represents a Chr. OESCH N. LEHIKOINEN speed of more than 37 kms per hour on a twisting road of successive dips and rises. The E. ELO race was a victory for youth, for the average age of the Belgian team was twenty years. STARTERS S. HERLEVI T. KOKKOLA 542 Source : Bibliothèque du CIO / IOC Library QUARTER-FINALS July 29th 1 000 METRES SCRATCH RACE The winners of each heat qualified for the semi-finals, the seconds and thirds for the repechage heats. July 28th — July 29th and July 31st HEAT 1 HEAT 3 1 Cox, L Australia 12.5 1 Sacchi, E Italy 12.0 Previous Olympic Winners 2 Robinson, R SouthAfrica 2 Krogh Rants, O.