Sprint, Women

As in 2004, the event was not held over 1,000 metres, but rather the qualifying was 3½ laps of the track, or 875 metres, and the match races were 3 laps, or 750 metres. The favorite was three-time World Champion Victoria Pendleton of Great Britain, who was known for her model-like good looks as much as her cycling feats. She led the qualifying with 10.963, an Olympic record, leading China’s Guo Shuang, who had twice been on the podium at the World Championships. Pendleton and Guo were joined in the semi-finals by the 2004 500 metre time trial champion, Anna Meares (AUS) and Willy Kanis of the Netherlands. Meares took out Guo in three races and met Pendleton in the final. But Pendleton won the final easily in two races for the gold medal. Guo defeated Kanis in two straight to win the bronze medal. Kanis had been World Champion in 2005-06 in BMX, but had since turned to track sprinting. Meares had made a remarkable recovery from a crash in January 2008, in which she fractured a vertebrae at the base of her skull.