Women in cycling & the olympic games

This year sees the UK achieve it's greatest success in medal haul at an Olympic games.  Part of that success comes from it's strenght in track events, and even more of that strength comes from it's women athletes and cyclists.  Track cycling is a funny sport, a bit like badminton or ping-pong, dominated by few countries where the sport is widely practiced, but almost unknown in many parts of the globe.  Unlike badminton or ping-pong though, the initial investment is rather large, with cycle tracks costing a few million dollars at least, much more if covered and heated. 
However track cycling has something really going for it at the Olympics..  Compared to road cycling at the Olympics, where there were 4 individual gold medals on offer (womens road and tt, mens road and tt), the track has offered up a staggering 10 of which 4 are for teams, which means you physically get more medals to show off at home!  Do a sum of kms raced, number of bikes etc, and you'll see that the proportion of Road race riders vying for a medal to track riders is overwhelmingly lop-sided.  Much easier to get a medal at the track.. The Keirin race in particular, after the qualifying rounds, sees SEVEN riders vying for 3 medals (gold, silver and bronze). Of course you have to qualify, much like for a track event like the 100m dash, but the chances are absolutely fantastically in your favour. 

So that's the track racing argument.

Now for the women in cycling argument.  Basically, women are grossly under-represented in cycling in many countries, especially Africa.  However the Olympics have seen a trend at setting a level playing field, with as many women events as possible, and as much parity in the events as possible (see http://www.womenscycling.net/2012/NewsPages2012/08_001_Track%20Parity.htm ). 
At the recent African Games in Maputo the field of participants for the women events was easily a QUARTER of the mens.  So logic would dictate that if you want a chance at a medal, any medal, then you should be concentrating on women's teams and not mens.  Add to that the disparity between road and track events, and the clear picture for medal hopes at an Olympics is to invest all your eggs in a women's track cycling team!  Especially if you're a relatively less affluent African country!  Having said that, we also need to look at the economics of getting an Olympic gold medal.  As all countries have limited resources, it's important that they spend their money well. And although having a women's track team in Mozambique might be an avenue to Olympic gold in Rio or further afield, the potential cost of this sort of program is quite prohibitive (see http://inrng.com/2012/08/british-cycling-funding/#more-10312 ).  Still, food for thought..

But wait, there's more!!!

I mean, why limit ourselves to just track racing where, admittedly, the infrastructure investment is relatively huge.  What about BMX and Mountain biking?! I mean, there are events for women in the Olympics.. So maybe the best chance at Olympic gold for a country like Mozambique will be either a Women's BMX or MTB team.. Fewer medals but again fewer competitors.  Food for thought.. Any ideas, please drop a comment in the box below.

And thanks to inner ring blog for some of the links.

PS - So which bike will you be getting your daughter this Christmas?