Bradley Wiggins has dreamed of winning Olympic gold for 12 years and plotted
for two to beat his rival and friend Brad McGee in the individual pursuit.
He
finally fulfilled both ambitions on Saturday.
Wiggins won Britain's second cycling gold of the Games with a win over McGee,
the man who had beaten him in the final of the Commonwealth Games two years
ago.
The Londoner, who won the 2003 World Championships in McGee's absence, is a
self-effacing character and he seemed overwhelmed by what he had achieved.
"People in cycling want to win yellow jerseys or the Tour de France and I've
always dreamed of winning an Olympic gold," said the 24-year-old.
"This means more to me than anything I'll ever do in my career. I'd be happy
if I never win anything ever again."
Wiggins was inspired to chase his Olympic medal by watching Chris Boardman win
the pursuit, in which two riders pursue each other around the track for 4,000
metres, at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
Boardman has played a direct role in his success, joining the coaching team at
UK cycling in 2002 when Wiggins sat down with performance director Dave
Brailsford to work out a way to better McGee.
And the pressure, when his opportunity came in the Greek capital, was nearly
too much for him to bear even though he had set a new Olympic record in the
qualifying round.
"I sort of had a grip of it, a control of it, but it was horrible," he
said.
"I was almost at the point of saying, 'that's it I'm getting out of here.'
And the last hour or so waiting to warm-up was horrible.
"I said to Dave at one point, 'Can I go now?' And he said 'No, five more
minutes.' And I'd like to thank Noel and Liam Gallagher for helping me at that
point on my iPod."
With Oasis' 'Champagne Supernova' ringing in his ears he got on his bike and
hammered round the track.
But McGee - who has battled hip and back injuries this year - had the early
edge over Wiggins and was marginally ahead at the 1,000-metre and 2,000-metre
marks.
With lactic acid-induced agony filling his legs and the noise of the large
British support in the stands, Wiggins dragged back the deficit, edging just
under two seconds ahead at the third mark and taking the line by over four
seconds ahead of the Australian.
"It was all a bit of a blur because I was in so much pain," said Wiggins.
"You're just riding on the limit all the time."
Wiggins' success and Hoy's triumph in the kilometre on Friday means this is
already British cycling's best Olympics of the modern era.
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