Olympics delay to help Britain get back on gold standard, says Yorkshire cycling star

AFTER three years’ work, the finish line has been moved back, but Yorkshire medal prospect Charlie Tanfield has mixed feelings over the decision to delay the Tokyo Olympics.
Tokyo target: Charlie Tanfield.Tokyo target: Charlie Tanfield.
Tokyo target: Charlie Tanfield.

Tanfield, from Great Ayton, hopes to travel to Japan as part of the British team which will bid for a fourth successive gold medal in the men’s team pursuit.

The Games were due to be held this July and August, but have been postponed until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic, an outcome Tanfield described as “good and bad”.

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On the one hand, the decision was an anticlimax near the end of the four-year Olympic cycle, but Tanfield also believes the later date could boost Great Britain’s chances of a podium finish.

“I have spent the past two years building up to this point and for it to be postponed is a bit deflating. However, on the other hand, the build-up was not great,” said the 23-year-old, who was an individual pursuit gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast two years ago.

“The virus was taking hold, different nations weren’t able to train how they wanted to and basically it was compromising everyone’s build up toward it.

“The actual event itself would not have been safe and that’s the last thing I would have wanted, for it not to be safe for the athletes and everyone watching.

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“In that respect it’s a good thing and also it gives us another 16 months to improve.”

Tanfield, whose brother Harry competes professionally on road racing’s World Tour, rode for Great Britain at the World Track Championships in Germany earlier this year.

He conceded: “At the Worlds it didn’t go our way and it (the year’s delay) gives us a chance to improve on where we are at and bring back the gap and still go for gold.”

The size of the challenge awaiting in Japan was rammed home in Berlin when Denmark set and then twice broke the world record on their way to an emphatic victory.

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Their World Championship final time of 3:44.672 was an astonishing six seconds faster than Great Britain’s Olympic gold medal ride in Rio four years ago.

Great Britain were seventh at the Worlds, almost four second adrift.

“There’s no denying it, the gap is big and what they’ve done is absolutely crazy,” said Tanfield of Denmark’s blistering performance.

“But it’s not over; we have got 16 months and I can certainly train well here and I am sure my team-mates can as well at their homes.

“We have got a lot of work ahead of us to close the gap.

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“There’s different strategies we can try and another year of trying to improve ourselves.

“I think we can do a lot better than we did at the Worlds so it is not over.

“It’s another year of dedication which I wasn’t expecting.”

Denmark’s world-beating form has partly been made in England.

Their backroom staff includes Dan Bigham, a former flatmate of Tanfield who rode alongside him for the KGF team.

“It’s a very strange situation,” admitted Tanfield.

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“Dan is very good at what he does and he is a very intelligent person.

“He is my friend so in that respect it is good to see his career is going well. However, it is helping the opposition which I don’t really like.

“He is a Brit and it would be nice to have his ideas and his intelligence working on the British team, but things don’t always work out how you’d like them to.

“We are also improving and just because he is there doesn’t mean we can’t be even better at what we do.

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“In that respect it is not going to stop us, I think there’s a lot more to come from us as a team.

“By no means were we the finished article at the Worlds, I think we have got more to give. We need to stick our heads down and get to work.”

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