Which comes first, the elite Olympic athlete or the comprehensive, well-funded program that produces the elite athlete? For the Canadian Cycling Association, the answer is: Tara Whitten. It’s also Zach Bell. Canada heads into this week's UCI World Track Cycling Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, led by the present male and female World Cup champions in the Omnium, a two day event comprise six track racing disciplines. For the 30-year-old Whitten, 2010 was a breakout year. The Edmonton resident won gold medals in the Omnium and the point’s race at the World Track Cycling Championships in Denmark in March, for starters.
Then she collected four medals, including gold in the women's road time trial, at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, in October. Bell, a world championship silver medallist in 2009, won a Common wealth bronze in the Scratch race. This season, Whitten and Bell, 28, both completed on the stage in the three World Cup competition they entered, with a gold medal by Whitten in her gruelling specialty at the Beijing event. Which was noteworthy, if only as a point of contrast with the state of Canada's track cycling transportation at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, where Canada won no cycling medals.
So strapped was Team Canada at those Olympics, that when Martin Gilbert's bike was damaged, he had to borrow one from the Danish team to compete with Bell in the Madison event. At the Athens Games in 2004, Edmonton's Lori-Ann Muenzer won a gold medal in the women's sprint with wheels rented from the Australian and French teams. But, when you win, Canadian funding flows, particularly when you win medals at the Olympic Games. One year out from the 2012 Summer Games in London, Canada is, pardon the expression, right on track, led by Whitten and Bell, a converted wrestler from Watson Lake, Yukon.
Then she collected four medals, including gold in the women's road time trial, at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, in October. Bell, a world championship silver medallist in 2009, won a Common wealth bronze in the Scratch race. This season, Whitten and Bell, 28, both completed on the stage in the three World Cup competition they entered, with a gold medal by Whitten in her gruelling specialty at the Beijing event. Which was noteworthy, if only as a point of contrast with the state of Canada's track cycling transportation at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, where Canada won no cycling medals.
So strapped was Team Canada at those Olympics, that when Martin Gilbert's bike was damaged, he had to borrow one from the Danish team to compete with Bell in the Madison event. At the Athens Games in 2004, Edmonton's Lori-Ann Muenzer won a gold medal in the women's sprint with wheels rented from the Australian and French teams. But, when you win, Canadian funding flows, particularly when you win medals at the Olympic Games. One year out from the 2012 Summer Games in London, Canada is, pardon the expression, right on track, led by Whitten and Bell, a converted wrestler from Watson Lake, Yukon.
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