| Men's Keirin at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Laoshan Velodrome | ||||||||||||
| Dates | August 16 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 25 from 17 nations | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
Road cycling | ||
| Road race | men | women |
| Time trial | men | women |
Track cycling | ||
| Individual pursuit | men | women |
| Team pursuit | men | |
| Sprint | men | women |
| Team sprint | men | |
| Points race | men | women |
| Keirin | men | |
| Madison | men | |
Mountain biking | ||
| Cross-country | men | women |
BMX | ||
| BMX | men | women |
The men's Keirin at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on August 16 at the Laoshan Velodrome.
Keirin – literally "racing cycle" – is a form of motor-paced cycle racing in which track cyclists sprint for victory following a speed-controlled start behind a motorized or non-motorized pacer. It was developed in Japan around 1948 for gambling purposes and became an official event at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad and commonly known as Beijing 2008, was an international multi-sport event that was held from 8–24 August 2008 in Beijing, China.
The Laoshan Velodrome is a velodrome that is located in Laoshan, Shijingshan District, Beijing, China. It was built for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The venue was tested during the UCI Track World Cup in December 2007.
Contents
This track cycling event consisted of multiple rounds. In each race, the four to seven [1] cyclists in the heat covered 8 laps of the track. The first 5.5 laps were behind a motorized pacer called a derny, which gradually increased speed up to 50 kilometres per hour. The derny then left the track and the cyclists then raced the final 2.5 laps to the finish.
Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using track bicycles.
A Derny is a motorized bicycle for motor-paced cycling events such as during six-day and Keirin racing and motor-paced road races. Some riders train behind a derny on the road. The Derny is so-called as it was originally produced by the French Derny firm, but the name Derny is now applied to all small cycle-pacing vehicles, regardless of manufacturer.
In the first round, four heats were held. The top two cyclists in each heat advanced to the semifinals, with the rest of the cyclists competing again in the repechage. Four of those cyclists advanced from the repechage to the semifinals as well, for a total of 12 semifinalists. They raced again in two semifinals heats. The top three cyclists in each semifinal advanced to the final, while the bottom three competed in the 7th to 12th place classification race. [2]
