China relegated to silver after illegal changeover
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E-mail Xinhua, August 3, 2012
China on Thursday picked up a silver medal in the women's cycling team sprint after being relegated from gold for making a lane change in the final.
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Kristina Vogel (left) and Miriam Welte congratulate each other after the women's Sprint Track Cycling final on Day 6 of the London 2012 Olympic Games. |
"This is competition, so I don't want to say anything right now," said Chinese cyclist Gong Jinjie, whose hopes to win China's first ever Olympic cycling gold was dashed.
Gong and her mate Guo Shuang beat the record twice, in the qualifying and the first round.
The German pair of Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte took gold, while Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch from Australia had bronze.
"We really could not believe it when we saw it on the screen that we were Olympic champions. It's amazing. It's weird and amazing," Kristina said.
British riders Jess Varnish and Victoria Pendleton, pre-race favorites, were disqualified for a takeover infringement in the first round.
Germany won the team sprint gold for the first time in the Olympic history, as the event is part of a major reshuffling of the women's track cycling program that includes four new gold medal events. The others are omnium, keirin and team pursuit.
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