Kenny justifies sprint selection ahead of Hoy

Great Britain claimed two more Olympic gold medals yesterday as they edged to within one of the 19 they won in Beijing four years ago.

The hosts continued to dominate in the velodrome as Jason Kenny claimed the men’s sprint, while the showjumpers won gold in the team competition.

There was a dramatic finale at Greenwich Park as Britain and Holland finished tied after two rounds of jumping.

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All four team members – Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash and Peter Charles – then rode again in front of a capacity 23,000 crowd.

And Skelton (Big Star), Maher (Tripple X III) and Charles (Vindicat) jumped clear to land gold, leaving Holland with silver, while Saudi Arabia clinched bronze.

Kenny’s stunning Olympic victory in the men’s sprint even left his vanquished opponent Gregory Bauge seeking answers on the secret to Great Britain’s success at the London 2012 velodrome.

Kenny claimed his third Olympic title and second of the London 2012 track programme which Britain have dominated, scooping five gold medals from seven events.

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Victoria Pendleton, Sir Chris Hoy and Laura Trott are set to ride for glory on today’s final day and it is possible Britain could surpass their Beijing bounty of seven gold medals from 10 events.

After being selected ahead of defending champion Hoy, Kenny justified his place by beating three-time world sprint champion Bauge of France.

Bauge asked Kenny three questions in the post-race press conference, relating to the 24-year-old’s preparation, a quarter-final meeting at the 2009 Track Cycling World Championships in Poland and looking ahead to the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Facing questions from an opponent who had beaten him on the track in the last two Track Cycling World Championships finals, Kenny answered carefully and respectfully.

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Asked why he questioned Kenny, Bauge said: “Because he beat me, because I lost. I prepared for the Games in my own way so I was curious to know how he prepared for his Games.

“It was not easy. He had to compete with Chris Hoy at first to get the selection.”

The International Cycling Union and International Olympic Committee introduced the one rider per nation rule, meaning the field was significantly weaker than in Melbourne when Bauge beat the Briton in the final of the Track Cycling World Championships.

But a Kenny v Bauge final was befitting of the blue riband event and the Lancastrian was thrilled to justify his selection ahead of Hoy.

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Kenny added: “Before we went up for the very last ride it dawned on me that if Chris was in my shoes here, there was no way he’d lose this one.

“If you look back in history, when it comes down to that really important ride, Chris nine times out of 10 smokes it. He’s got that real killer instinct to finish off a race when it matters.

“It was just a case of getting up there and justifying my place.”

Kenny finished second to Hoy in Beijing and became world sprint champion only by default after Bauge was stripped of the 2011 title for an anti-doping infringement.

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Shane Perkins of Australia claimed bronze with a 2-0 defeat of Trinidad’s Njisane Nicholas Phillip.

Skelton inspired Great Britain’s brilliant showjumpers to Olympic glory and ended a 60-year wait for gold.

Skelton, 54, was not even born when the British team of Lieutenant Colonel Harry Llewellyn, Major Arthur Carr and Lieutenant Colonel Wilf White triumphed in Helsinki in 1952.

The 2012 British quartet –Skelton, Maher, Brash and Peter – enjoyed a spectacular ‘extra-time’ triumph that sent a capacity 23,000 crowd wild.

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Tied after two rounds of a pulsating team competition, all four riders for each country then had to ride a shortened jump-off course against the clock, and it was the Dutch who cracked.

Britain’s first Olympic showjumping medal of any colour since 1984 was in the bag once Charles and Vindicat emulated Skelton (Big Star) and Maher (Tripple X III) in going clear.

Liverpool-born Charles, who competed in two previous Olympics for Ireland before switching nationality, punched the air in triumph to spark unforgettable scenes of celebration and give British showjumping its finest hour.

It was a magnificent display under intense pressure as riders and horses were tested to the limit by the maritime-themed course of British designers Bob Ellis and Kelvin Bywater.

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“It can’t get better than that,” said six-time Olympian Skelton, who like Charles, overcame a broken neck earlier in his career to regain a seat at showjumping’s top table.

“It was just brilliant. We had to get stuck in to the jump-off – I said to the guys we needed to go out there and win it.

“I’ve waited 54 years for this, so you can certainly say it was a long time coming. I’ve had a few misses in my time, but finally we got there.

“We lost it, we won it, we lost it and then finally we won it back. Without this crowd we could never have done it.”

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Russian Aliya Mustafina produced a stunning uneven bars routine to be crowned Olympic champion and beat home favourite Beth Tweddle into bronze medal position. Defending champion He Kexin of China took silver.

More Olympics reports and pictures: Pages 20 and 21.

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