London Olympics: Velodrome comes off the blocks

With the London 2012 Olympics coming fast up the track, the Olympics Organising Committee is recording some pretty good times. The first venue to be completed, the Velodrome, opened on time – and on budget – today.

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe is calling the Stratford arena “a venue designed for champions”.

British track cycling already has champions – World champions and Olympic champions like Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton. The buzz is that having a shiny, fast, new Velodrome on their own soil will speed them to more gold medals. And maybe, world records.

Because the builders – and the sprinters – are sticking their necks out and billing this as the fastest Velodrome in the world. And it’s not reached top speed yet. Because, as the Siberian pine the track is made of dries out and hardens over the next 18 months, it will run even faster.

The arena even has underground heating, to keep the temperature at a toasty 26 degrees Celsius. At that temperature the air will be thin – so less resistance for the cyclists – and, in theory, faster times.

That’s inside. Outside, the building curves and dips on the Stratford skyline. The architects wanted the lines to flow as easily and gracefully as a bicycle. Although one sports journalist has already dubbed it “The Pringle” – a more prosaic description which looks like it might stick.

Cyclists will race at the velodrome over 6 days, competing for 10 gold medals. Today the British track cycling team took to the track for a spin and were thrilled.

While Lord Coe says the Olympics authorities will make sure every country gets a fair crack at practising on the track, Team GB is bound to be more familiar with it by the time the racing starts.

“It couldn’t be any better for a British rider.” BMX world champion Shanaze Reade

But Chris Hoy, who won 3 golds in Beijing, thinks the competitive advantage is more likely to come from the home crowd, than the home facility.

“I wouldn’t say it’s unfair,” he told me. “It’s a spin-off from being the home nation. The biggest thing for me is the familiarity of the home crowd supporting you. It’s a venue you recognise.

“In terms of the track, they don’t vary a huge amount so it’s not like Formula 1 where each track is hugely different.”

But not all venues are the same at all competitions. All BMX tracks are not the same, for example.

Shanaze Reade is the World BMX Champion and the London track will be unique. So she accepts having a home Olympics will offer British athletes a tactical edge.

“I think we’re extremely lucky we get more time on the facilities than other countries,” she said. “And with BMX, the tracks being so different all around the world, it’s very important. The more time we get, the better. It couldn’t be any better for a British rider.”

But it’s not as if British cyclists need to rely on any unfair home advantage. They did brilliantly in Beijing remember.

Track cycling was Britain’s most successful event at the 2008 Olympics. They got 7 gold medals out of 10…totting up more than a third of Team GB’s overall total of 19 golds.

Taking in the track today, Britain’s track cycling superstar Chris Hoy used the word “gladiatorial” to describe this Velodrome. London Mayor Boris Johnson went further. It is, he says, a “crucible of war”.

Let the games commence.