The men's track time trial cycling event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on 20 September and was one of the nine cycling events at the 1984 Olympics. There were 30 cyclists from 30 nations, with each nation limited to one competitor. The event was won by Aleksandr Kirichenko of the Soviet Union, the nation's first victory in the men's track time trial. Martin Vinnicombe's silver was Australia's first medal in the event since 1972, while Robert Lechner put West Germany on the podium for the second consecutive Games with his bronze.
Background
This was the 15th appearance of the event, which had previously been held in 1896 and every Games since 1928. It would be held every Games until being dropped from the programme after 2004. The returning cyclists from 1980 were silver medalist Curt Harnett of Canada, fourth-place finisher Gene Samuel of Trinidad and Tobago, seventh-place finisher Marcelo Alexandre of Argentina, sixteenth-place finisher Max Leiva of Guatemala, twentieth-place finisher Rosman Alwi of Malaysia, and twenty-second-place finisher Lee Fu-hsiang of Chinese Taipei. The favorite was Australian Martin Vinnicombe, who had won the 1987 world championship after third and second place finishes in 1985 and 1986. Other contestants included Maic Malchow of East Germany, who had set the world record in 1986.
Liechtenstein and Spain each made their debut in the men's track time trial. France made its 15th appearance, having competed at every appearance of the event. For the first time, Great Britain did not compete.
Competition format
The event was a time trial on the track, with each cyclist competing separately to attempt to achieve the fastest time. Each cyclist raced one kilometre from a standing start.Official Report, vol. 2, p. 354.
Records
The following were the world and Olympic records prior to the competition.
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.
Schedule
All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)
Date Time Round Tuesday, 20 September 1988 19:10 Final
Results
Rank Cyclist Nation Lap 1 Lap 2 Time Speed(km/h) Aleksandr Kirichenko 22.903 42.568 1:04.499 55.814 Martin Vinnicombe 23.388 43.037 1:04.784 55.569 Robert Lechner 23.195 43.296 1:05.114 55.2874 Kenneth Røpke 24.075 43.772 1:05.168 55.2415 Bernardo González 24.163 43.690 1:05.281 55.1466 Maic Malchow 23.919 43.790 1:05.393 55.0517 Tony Graham 24.726 44.512 1:05.744 54.7578 Frédéric Magné 23.701 44.332 1:06.142 54.4289 Rocco Travella 23.562 43.668 1:06.209 54.37310 Clóvis Anderson 23.796 44.380 1:06.282 54.31311 Curt Harnett 23.486 44.042 1:06.291 54.30612 Gene Samuel 23.256 43.615 1:06.560 54.08613 Marcelo Alexandre 24.211 44.521 1:06.925 53.79114 Bobby Livingston 23.763 44.299 1:06.926 53.79015 Eom Yeong-seop 23.624 44.079 1:07.000 53.73116 Hiroshi Toyooka 24.605 44.844 1:07.240 53.53917 Mika Hämäläinen 24.630 45.039 1:07.384 53.42518 Thierry Détant 24.208 44.772 1:07.555 53.28919 Mario Pons 23.415 44.636 1:08.351 52.66920 Gary Mandy 24.087 45.116 1:08.474 52.57421 Peter Hermann 25.542 46.716 1:08.999 52.17422 Lee Fu-hsiang 24.591 45.557 1:09.024 52.15523 Max Leiva 24.874 26.062 1:09.214 52.01224 Roderick Chase 24.168 45.709 1:09.994 51.43225 Rosman Alwi 25.249 46.972 1:10.446 51.10226 Bernardo Rimarim 26.303 48.111 1:11.647 50.24627 Jalil Eftekhari 25.169 47.302 1:11.683 50.22128 Michele Smith 25.775 47.730 1:11.820 50.12529 Bailón Becerra 25.087 47.967 1:13.513 48.97030 Neil Lloyd 26.999 50.995 1:18.324 45.962
References