Cycling Track at the 1988 Summer Olympics

Dates 20 – 24 September 1988
Medal Events 6

The 1988 Olympic cycling program saw another event added for women, the match sprint on the track, which was added to the road race that had its Olympic début in 1984. All the track events were conducted at the Olympic Velodrome. The men’s program was the same as in 1984 with five events – kilometre time trial, match sprint, individual pursuit, team pursuit, and points race. The Olympic Velodrome was outdoors, with a wooden track of 333.33 metres, with 38° banked curves, and 10° banked straights.

Soviet Estonian Erika Salumäe won the first women’s track cycling gold medal, taking the match sprint. The favorite in the event, she would repeat as champion in 1992, and won 10 gold medals at the World Championships during her career. The Soviets won four of the six track cycling events, although Denmark’s Dan Frost won the points race, and East German Lutz Heßlich won the match sprint, repeating as champion after his 1980 gold. Heßlich did not compete in 1984 because of the Soviet-led boycott though he would likely have been favored.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Sprint, Men Olympic 21 – 24 September 1988 25 25
1,000 metres Time Trial, Men Olympic 20 September 1988 30 30
Individual Pursuit, 4,000 metres, Men Olympic 20 – 22 September 1988 22 22
Team Pursuit, 4,000 metres, Men Olympic 23 – 24 September 1988 82 19
Points Race, Men Olympic 21 – 24 September 1988 34 34
Sprint, Women Olympic 21 – 24 September 1988 12 12
171 (159/12) 45 (44/12)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Sprint, Men Lutz HeßlichGDR Nikolay KovshURS Gary NeiwandAUS
1,000 metres Time Trial, Men Aleksandr KirichenkoURS Martin VinnicombeAUS Robert LechnerFRG
Individual Pursuit, 4,000 metres, Men Gintautas UmarasURS Dean WoodsAUS Bernd DittertGDR
Team Pursuit, 4,000 metres, Men Soviet UnionURS East GermanyGDR AustraliaAUS
Points Race, Men Dan FrostDEN Leo PeelenNED Marat GaneyevURS
Sprint, Women Erika SalumäeURS Christa RothenburgerGDR Connie Paraskevin-YoungUSA

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Soviet Union URS 4 1 1 6
East Germany GDR 1 2 1 4
Denmark DEN 1 0 0 1
Australia AUS 0 2 2 4
Netherlands NED 0 1 0 1
United States USA 0 0 1 1
West Germany FRG 0 0 1 1