The Men's individual pursuit at the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

took place on August 16 at the Laoshan Velodrome

Laoshan Velodrome

The Laoshan Velodrome is a velodrome that is located in Laoshan, Shijingshan District, Beijing, China. It was built for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The venue was tested during the UCI Track World Cup in December 2007....

. The pre-event favorite to win the gold medal was the defending Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins

Bradley Wiggins

Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE is a British professional track and road bicycle racer, currently riding for Team Sky. Wiggins' career began on the track, where he specialised in the pursuit and madison disciplines....

 of Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, who managed to retain the title, setting a new Olympic record in the preliminary round.

Qualifying

Eighteen cyclists qualified for this event. Bradley Wiggins

Bradley Wiggins

Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE is a British professional track and road bicycle racer, currently riding for Team Sky. Wiggins' career began on the track, where he specialised in the pursuit and madison disciplines....

 (Great Britain), the defending Olympic champion, qualified for winning the individual pursuit at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships

2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships

The 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were the World Championship for track cycling. They took place at the Manchester Velodrome in Manchester, United Kingdom from 26 to 30 March 2008. Eighteen events were scheduled; the women's team pursuit being the only addition from the 2007...

. Volodymyr Dyudya

Volodymyr Dyudya

Volodymyr Dyudya is a Ukrainian professional racing cyclist for UCI Professional Continental team . He competes on both road and track...

 (Ukraine) qualified at the late 2007 UCI World Cup event

2007–2008 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics

The 2007–2008 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics is a multi race tournament over a season of track cycling. The season began on 30 November 2007 and completed on 17 February 2008. The World Cup is organised by the UCI. The 2007–2008 series carries vital ranking points towards the 2008...

 in Sydney, winning the individual pursuit there. The qualifier by way of the UCI B World Championship

UCI B World Championship Cycling

The UCI B World Championships is the annual world championship for Level B bicycle road racing and bicycle time trials organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale for nations with developing competitive pro cycling. The UCI B World Championships includes events for both elite men's and women's...

 was Alexandr Pliuschin (Moldova). Jenning Huizenga

Jenning Huizenga

Jenning Huizenga is a Dutch professional racing cyclist.-Career highlights:2004200520062007-External links:...

 (Netherlands), Taylor Phinney

Taylor Phinney

Taylor Phinney is a world champion American racing cyclist, specialising on the track in individual pursuit. He is the son of former professional racing cyclist Davis Phinney and former Olympic gold medal racing cyclist and speed skater Connie Carpenter-Phinney...

 (United States), Phillip Thuaux

Phillip Thuaux

Phillip Thuaux is an Australian professional racing cyclist.- Palmarès :20012002Phillip Thuaux is an Australian professional racing cyclist....

 (Australia), Sergi Escobar Roure (Spain), Alexander Serov

Alexander Serov (cyclist)

Alexander Sergeyevich Serov is a Russian professional road and track racing cyclist for UCI ProTour team Katusha.- Palmarès :2002Alexander Sergeyevich Serov is a Russian professional road and track racing cyclist for UCI ProTour team Katusha....

 (Russia), and David O'Loughlin

David O'Loughlin

David O'Loughlin is a professional cyclist with the Asian based Giant Kenda team for 2011. O'Loughlin rode for Ireland at World Championships and has won the national road championship three times...

 (Ireland) qualified based on UCI rankings. The rest of the field was formed by berths given to the ten nations that qualified in the team pursuit. This resulted in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, and Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

each having two competitors in this event.

Preliminaries

The eighteen cyclists were matched into nine two-man heats. The riders start on opposite sides of the track from one another, held in place by a starting gate until the race begins. While the objective is ostensibly to catch the other rider on the track, victory is most commonly determined by the faster time to cover 4,000 meters. The winners of each individual heat did not matter in the preliminaries - it was instead the overall eight fastest times which would advance to the match round.

Per the start list and the results.

Q = Qualifier
OR = Olympic Record

Heat	Name	Time	Rank
1		4:33.100	15
		4:26.139	12
2		4:35.154	16
		4:22.260 Q	5
3		4:22.462 Q	6
		4:27.445	13
4		4:30.321	14
		4:35.438	17
5		4:26.102	10
		4:23.732 Q	8
6		4:22.860 Q	7
		4:21.530 Q	4
7		4:26.084	9
		4:26.102	11
8		4:37.097	18
		4:18.990 Q	2
9		4:15.031 Q OR	1
		4:21.498 Q	3

Match round

In the match round, the top eight riders from the preliminaries were matched together, 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5, for the semifinals. In the semifinals, the winner of each match advanced to race for a medal; the two fastest raced for gold and silver, while the two slower winners faced each other for the bronze.

Semifinals

Match 1

Name	Time	Rank
	4:22:471	5
	4:21:558	3

Match 2

Name	Time	Rank
	4:22:308	4
	4:24:974	6

Match 3

Name	Time	Rank
	4:19:232	2
	4:26:644	8

Match 4

Name	Time	Rank
	4:16:571	1
	4:25:391	7

Medal round

Gold medal match

Name	Time	Rank
	4:16:977
	4:19:611

Bronze medal match

Name	Time	Rank
	4:20:947
	4:24:149	4