Manning enjoys a golden moment

IF this is to be Paul Manning’s Olympic swansong, the former Mossley-based cyclist certainly went out in a blaze of glory in Beijing.

Manning, competing in his third Games, was last night part of Great Britain’s men’s 4000metre team pursuit who captured a long-awaited gold in a new world and Olympic record time of 3min 53.314sec.

And Manning described the victory in the gold-medal ride against Denmark as “the best three or four minutes of my life.”

After near misses in Sydney and Athens, when Britain’s men’s team pursuit four finished third and second respectively, this time they finally finished top of the tree.

The Olympic triumph completes the set for 33-year-old Manning, who admits he does not expect to be in the mix for the Games in London in four years’ time, as he has won world and Commonwealth golds.

Manning, who was been part of the golden era in British cycling, said: “Had I missed out on an Olympic Games gold medal it would have been a huge disappointment.

“It was never in our minds that we were going to lose and we knew we had the measure of the Danes. We had a plan to push them and make them crack because we thought they couldn’t go as fast again as they did in the qualifying round.

“I remember the sheer disappointment of losing in the final in Athens. And it is those years of dedication and commitment which leads to performances like this.”

There was never any doubt about the result as the British team of golden boy Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas and Wiggins, not only beat the world record they set the previous day in the qualifying round, but obliterated it.

They sliced almost two seconds off by clocking 3min 53.314sec and finished almost seven seconds ahead of the Danes, whom they almost caught having started on opposite sides of the track.

Manning, who says he will be scaling down his extensive schedule after returning said: “I am going to have a few months travelling at the end of this year and forget about the bike. I will see where it goes from there.

“I think it will be my last Olympics and I will reserve judgement as to whether it will be my last race.

“In the last year I have probably been away for longer than I have been at home.

“I am lucky that my wife Julie is understanding and she knows eventually it will end and we will be able to spend time together. She has played a big part in my success and she was here along with my mother-in-law Carol.”