Bradley Wiggins rides into history books with record eighth Olympic cycling medal
The British athlete becomes the first cyclist to win an Olympic medal in five different Olympic Games
Bradley Wiggins celebrates winning the gold medal at the Rio Olympic Velodrome (Photo: Getty Images/Bryn Lennon)
With Great Britain's triumph in the team pursuit final in the Rio Olympic Velodrome on Friday (12 August), Sir Bradley Wiggins has become the first British athlete to win eight Olympic medals.
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Wiggins has now won medals in every Olympic Games since Sydney 2000 and is the first cyclist to win a medal in five different Olympic Games.
With the British victory on Friday evening, the 36-year-old's medal haul comprises five golds, one silver and two bronze, which trumps fellow cyclist Sir Chris Hoy's tally of seven. Wiggins's total of five gold medals is still one fewer than Hoy's six, with the Scot winning all of his on the track.
Praise for Wiggins came from Hoy himself, who said: "He's the greatest British cyclist of all time because of what he's done across the board in so many disciplines. Chris Froome has won three Tours de France, which is no mean feat, but Bradley has won road world titles, Tour de France, track titles and set the world hour time record."
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Wiggins said: "The first people I bumped into were Chris Hoy and (rower) Steve Redgrave, so just to be in the same breath as those guys is an honour.
"To be five Olympics on, to have five golds myself, I could never imagine that for one minute. That's something to tell the kids about."
In a thrilling and tense final, the British squad of Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Owain Doull beat Australia to win their third straight Olympic gold medal in the event. They did so in world record time, stopping the clock in three minutes, 50.265 seconds.
The Australian team of Alexander Edmondson, Jack Bobridge, Michael Hepburn and Sam Welsford finished in 3:51.008 to clinch silver. In the bronze medal match, Denmark defeated New Zealand.
Wiggins celebrates gold, his fifth of an illustrious career (Photo: Getty Images/Julian Finney)
This was the GB's second track gold after victory in the men's team sprint.
"It was gold or nothing for this team," Wiggins said after the race. "We are going out now. I'll be hungover tomorrow.
"I've been an Olympic champion now for 16 years. It's a nice feeling.
"I wanted to go out with this. I wanted it to end like this. It's brilliant."
