OVER two decades ago – last century in fact, a bygone age to some -
British Cycling was a little known sports federation with one Olympic gold
medal to its name in 80 years, courtesy of Chris Boardman in 1992.
Then along came the Fairy God Mother with Lottery Funding pouring £millions into elite sport.
Fast forward two decades: now its 43 Olympic medals; 6 Tour
de France victories, umpteen world records and world titles - an unprecedented
feat in the history of sport.
What happened?
This book tells all - a tale of the good, the bad and ugly.
The Medal Factory –
British Cycling and the cost of the gold – by Kenny Pryde reveals the full
story of how British Cycling, Team Sky and INEOS together came to dominate
cycle sport.
It was like a dream, wasn’t it? Those spell binding gold medal raids on the Olympic Games one after another, that historic first Tour victory for a British rider in 2012, courtesy of the Kilburn Kid, Bradley Wiggins. And then came the fall from grace, with talk of Sky straying into the grey area in respect of
Wiggins being allowed to take a strong medication for an allergy when it may have also enhanced performance.
The story delves into all this, plus accusations at British Cycling of bullying and sexism.
It paints a picture of how lottery funding and the infamous introduction of “marginal gains” came to drive a phenomenal yet ruthless and ultimately flawed performance culture.
Pryde had set out to write of a “glorious, heroic saga” and found himself trying to balance a tale of supreme performances with uncomfortable and disconcerting truths and mistakes made in the pressure cooker of elite competition.
The cost of gold, indeed.
The Medal Factory
British Cycling and the cost of gold
By Kenny Pryde.
Published in Great Britain in 2020 by
Pursuit Books, an imprint of
Profile Books Ltd,
29 Cloth Fair
London EC1A 7JQ.
ISBN 978 1 78125 986 3
