Grassmarket

had won a tight battle, heading for bronze, touch of wheels, debacle.

Actually the idea is that if there is a massive crash - which sometimes happens during six-days - there won’t be any damage to the track with small light bikes. Or damage to the riders. Of course, no damage to the riders.

It’s part of the local culture. In Japan they use fit ex-cyclists on slightly modified bikes. In Belgium & Holland it is fat 60-year old bar-owners on petrol bikes improvised during the Nazi occupation. In the Americas it is Latino youths on Harley-Davisons.

I ask you, would we do a thing like that? Knowing all we know about how the spirit of le fair play is so thoroughly ingrained in the British character, is it remotely likely that we would do a favour to our noble, heroic allies the Poles - to whom we owe debts that can never be repaid - just to spite a gang of whining, ungrateful fish-stealers? No, no, no, such a thing could never happen, and anyone who tried such an ignoble piece of cheating it would become instant national heroes & have streets named after them.

Men's 20k - Thursday Men's 50k - Late night Thursday/early Friday Women's 20k - Friday morning Women's marathon - Saturday morning Men's marathon - Sunday morning So you will have time to savour every glorious moment of each.

This seems to be one of World Athletics' Big New Ideas this season - had it at the European U20s and U23s as well.

World Junior Record for Mu, European JR and absolute British NR for Hodgkinson!

Has a very American accent.

I’m guessing the pole vaulter there is not a native speaker of the language of Cavafy? “Oh my Gaaawd!”

Official Olympics website is showing Denmark as QG with no time given, & GBR as Q 7/8 with I presume the time of either Tanfield or the dropped rider as final. Don’t know if that’s definitive.

And Britain make the very same mistake.

Oz mess up their medal final in the Team Sprint, France get bronze.

All races are only judged at the finishing line!

That is a point, theoretically GBR were still racing for a place in the 3/4 final.

Passing this on. Nothing official so far, but as just said by the commentator on Channel 7 here in Australia, that after the crash, the Danish team stopped and left the track whilst one of the GB riders continued and finished the race and thus he believes that GB will be given the win from what he has been told. This might be correct - in the World Champs in Los Angeles 2001 a rider took the bronze in the kierin by running across the line with his bike. But then in the TP you have to have three riders cross? Or perhaps last man standing in the event of a total wipe-out?

Take that, van Diemen's Land All Stars!

Quite right, anyone could see we were just building up to a big last km comeback!

I guess the proper thing to do would be for Britain to refuse to re-run, which would be a walkover for Denmark.

Yeah, that is the difficulty, how is a "catch" defined?

A catch is a win - the race is called the pursuit, the object is to get a catch, the time is secondary.

No, a catch is a win. You just don't get a time recorded, but they don't need a time, because they won.

It's up to the Danes to do the pass, it's a completely normal move.

Their own fault!

Danes will get the win though.