Background
This was the fourth appearance of the event. It was first held in 1900 and not again until 1984; after that, it was held every Summer Games until 2008 when it was removed from the programme. The women's version was held from 1996 through 2008. [2]
Six of the 24 finalists from the 1988 Games returned: gold medalist Dan Frost of Denmark, ninth-place finisher (and 1984 bronze medalist) José Youshimatz of Mexico, eleventh-place finisher Giovanni Lombardi of Italy, fifteenth-place finisher Gene Samuel of Trinidad and Tobago, sixteenth-place finisher Wojciech Pawłak of Poland, and twenty-fourth-place finisher Fernando Louro of Brazil. Stephen McGlede of Australia was the 1990 World Champion; the reigning (1991) World Champion, Bruno Risi of Switzerland, was not competing. [2]
The People's Republic of China, Cuba, Greece, Latvia, and South Africa each made their debut in the event. Some former Soviet republics competed together as the Unified Team (with a Ukrainian cyclist in this event). One Yugoslav cyclist competed as an Independent Olympic Participant. France and Italy both competed for the fourth time, the only nations to have competed in all four Olympic men's points races.
The contest consisted of two rounds: semifinals and a final. The distance varied by round, with 30 kilometres (19 mi) in the semifinals and 50 kilometres (31 mi) in the final. The top 12 in each of the two semifinals advanced to the 24-man final. Placement in each race was determined first by how many laps behind the leader the cyclist was and second by how many sprint points the cyclist accumulated. That is, a cyclist with more sprint points but who was lapped once would be ranked behind a cyclist with fewer points but who had not been lapped. Sprint points could be gained only by cyclists who had not been lapped.
In the semifinals, there were 20 sprints—one every 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi). Points were awarded based on the position of the cyclists at the end of the sprint. Most of the sprints were worth 5 points for the leader, 3 to the second-place cyclist, 2 to third, and 1 to fourth. The 10th (halfway) and 20th (final) sprint were worth double: 10 points, 6, 4, and 2.
The final featured 30 sprints—one every 1.67 kilometres (1.04 mi). As in the semifinals, most sprints were worth 5/3/2/1 points, with the halfway (15th) and final (30th) sprints worth 10/6/4/2. [2]
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