The men's points race was an event at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, for which the final was held on 3 August 1984. There were 43 participants from 25 nations (with 6 other cyclists not starting). Each nation was limited to 2 cyclists. 24 cyclists competed in the final after two semifinals (twelve best in each qualified). The event was won by Roger Ilegems of Belgium, with Uwe Messerschmidt taking silver and José Youshimatz of Mexico bronze. It was the first medal in the event for each nation, none of which had competed in the previous edition in 1900 (though a united Germany had competed and taken a medal).
Background This was the second 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.
The reigning World Champion (1983) was Michael Markussen of Denmark. The other two men from the world championship podium, Hans-Joachim Pohl of East Germany and Ivan Romanov of the Soviet Union, were not able to compete due to the Soviet-led boycott.
23 nations made their debut in the event. France and Italy competed for the second time, the only nations to have competed in 1900 as well as 1984.
Competition format The contest consisted of two rounds: semifinals and a final. The distance varied by round, with 30 kilometres in the semifinals and 50 kilometres 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. 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. 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.
Schedule All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
Date Time Round Tuesday, 31 July 1984 15:30 Semifinal 1 Wednesday, 1 August 1984 13:25 Semifinal 2 Friday, 3 August 1984 14:30 Final
Results Semifinals Semifinal 1 Rank Cyclist Nation Laps behind Points Notes 1 Brian Holm 0 37 2 Brian Fowler 0 24 3 Juan Curuchet 1 35 4 Silvio Martinello 1 13 5 William Palacio 1 11 6 Gary Trevisiol 1 10 7 Roger Ilegems 1 9 8 Glenn Clarke 2 20 9 Paul Curran 2 13 10 Uwe Messerschmidt 2 10 11 Éric Louvel 2 9 12 Stephan Joho 2 8 13 Kurt Zellhofer 2 6 14 Hans Fischer 2 5 15 Hitoshi Sato 2 2 Danny Van Haute 2 2 17 Peter Aldridge 2 1 18 Deogracias Asuncion 2 0 Roberto Muñoz 2 0
Semifinal 2 Rank Cyclist Nation Laps behind Points Notes 1 Jörg Müller 0 14 2 José Youshimatz 0 8 3 Didier Garcia 0 6 4 Balbino Jaramillo 0 4 5 Michael Markussen 1 26 6 Alex Stieda 1 23 7 Juan Carlos Haedo 1 19 8 Shaun Wallace 1 18 9 Rudi Ceyssens 1 17 10 Manfred Donike 1 16 11 Derk van Egmond 1 15 12 Stefano Allocchio 1 12 13 Graeme Miller 1 10 14 Mark Whitehead 1 9 15 Akio Kuwazawa 1 8 16 Miguel Droguett 1 4 Carlos García 1 4 18 Gary West 1 3 19 Edgardo Pagarigan 1 1 Paul Popp 1 1 21 Aubrey Richmond 2 0 — Elisha Hughes — Ernest Moodie — Ian Stanley —
Final The final classification was as follows:
Rank Cyclist Nation Laps behind Points Roger Ilegems 037 Uwe Messerschmidt 016 José Youshimatz 1294 Jörg Müller 1235 Juan Curuchet 1206 Glenn Clarke 1137 Brian Fowler 1128 Derk van Egmond 2569 Michael Markussen 22110 Alex Stieda 21711 Rudi Ceyssens 21612 Didier Garcia 21313 Balbino Jaramillo 21214 Stefano Allocchio 21115 William Palacio 2916 Silvio Martinello 2817 Brian Holm 31218 Gary Trevisiol 31019 Manfred Donike 3320 Juan Carlos Haedo 3121 Shaun Wallace 3122 Paul Curran 413 — Éric Louvel — Stephan Joho —
Results summary Rank Cyclist Nation Semifinals Final Laps behind Points Laps behind Points Roger Ilegems 1 9037 Uwe Messerschmidt 2 10016 José Youshimatz 0 81294 Jörg Müller 0 141235 Juan Curuchet 1 351206 Glenn Clarke 2 201137 Brian Fowler 0 241128 Derk van Egmond 1 152569 Michael Markussen 1 2622110 Alex Stieda 1 2321711 Rudi Ceyssens 1 1721612 Didier Garcia 0 621313 Balbino Jaramillo 0 421214 Stefano Allocchio 1 1221115 William Palacio 1 112916 Silvio Martinello 1 132817 Brian Holm 0 3731218 Gary Trevisiol 1 1031019 Manfred Donike 1 163320 Juan Carlos Haedo 1 193121 Shaun Wallace 1 183122 Paul Curran 2 13413 23 Éric Louvel 2 9 — Stephan Joho 2 8 — 25 Graeme Miller 1 10colspan=2 26 Mark Whitehead 1 9colspan=2 27 Akio Kuwazawa 1 8colspan=2 28 Miguel Droguett 1 4colspan=2 Carlos García 1 4colspan=2 30 Gary West 1 3colspan=2 31 Edgardo Pagarigan 1 1colspan=2 Paul Popp 1 1colspan=2 33 Kurt Zellhofer 2 6colspan=2 34 Hans Fischer 2 5colspan=2 35 Hitoshi Sato 2 2colspan=2 Danny Van Haute 2 2colspan=2 37 Peter Aldridge 2 1colspan=2 38 Deogracias Asuncion 2 0colspan=2 Roberto Muñoz 2 0colspan=2 40 Aubrey Richmond 2 0colspan=2 — Elisha Hughes —colspan=2 Ernest Moodie —colspan=2 Ian Stanley —colspan=2 — Lee Fu-hsiang —colspan=2 Kari Myyryläinen —colspan=2 Salvador Rios —colspan=2 Gene Samuel —colspan=2 Randolph Toussaint —colspan=2 Clyde Wilson —colspan=2
References
External links Official Report