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Sydney Track World Cup - CDM
Sydney, Australia, May 14 - 16, 2004
Tales from the track
News and gossip from Day 2 of the 2004 Sydney Track World Cup
By Karen Forman in Sydney
Eadie out of sprint - but avoids podium pink and gets into the shadow team
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Funny how those gifts you give in jest tend to come back at you.
If Sean Eadie had won the men's sprint at the UCI Track World Cup in Sydney this weekend, he would have found himself standing on the podium wearing a pair of pretty pink size 42 Converse All Stars boots - and probably a pink face to match.
The boots in question were a "gift" from the Adelaide bike rider to his coach not so long ago. It seems Eadie had decided he didn't like Martin Barras's shoes, so with coaching director Ron Bonham had decided to buy him a replacement pair: Pink ones.
Barras said he had taken the gesture in good humour and despite hating the offending shoes at first sight, had agreed to wear them once. "Which I did - but only because I had to," he said. "My two year old daughter liked them better than what I did."
But Barras knows about the "don't get angry, get even" adage. He then bet Eadie that he would win the men's' sprint event - and told him if he did, he had to wear the boots on the podium to receive his medal. If Eadie didn't win, Barras would wear the boots. Coincidence - Eadie fits size 42!
Unfortunately Eadie was knocked out of the semi final by Takashi Kaneko from Japan in a two-nil quarter final tonight. That meant he didn't have to wear the boots, at least.
Bets aside, Eadie said he was very happy with the flying 200 earlier in the day that had given him the qualifying time he needed to make the Australian shadow team for the Athens Olympics.
"I have been getting faster in degrees and in two weeks I should be where I want to be," he said.
"I hope I will get to it at the worlds. I am really focussed for a start. I am in better form now than I was and it's just a matter of refining it."
Eadie returns to the AIS in Adelaide on Sunday , a tad disappointed but focussed on what's ahead. "Each race I am really more confident and more at home," he said.
He said he had enjoyed being part of the youngest team fielded by Australia at an international event and smiled at his "fatherly" status. "The young guys don't give a damn, they just go for it and while they may look a bit tired, but have done great."
Shadow team selection
Earlier in the event, Eadie had realised his first goal of the year to qualify for the Australian shadow team for the Athens Olympics during the men's sprint qualification at the UCI Track World Cup Sydney today.
The 35 year old "old man" of the youngest team Australian has ever fielded in an international event rode 10.518 - halfway between the shadow team qualification requirement of 10.55 and the Olympic requirement of 10.45 - after he was seen spending a considerable amount of time at Dunc Gray velodrome warming and psyching up on the rollers before the morning session opened.
Still, it wasn't the fastest time recorded during the morning of flying 200s. Fastest was recorded by Spaniard Jose Antonio Villanueve Trinidad with 10.359. Eadie was fifth.
Not riding was injured Barry Forde from Barbados, who was advised against starting by his team doctor due to a concussion and facial injuries sustained in a crash in the keirin on Friday.
Forde had been relying on a top 10 finish in the sprint to secure him a berth at the world championships in Melbourne in 10 days time. Now he will have to go home.
More Day 2 News from the Sydney Track World Cup
- Funny how those gifts you give in jest tend to come back at you. If Sean Eadie had won the men's' sprint at the UCI Track World Cup in Sydney this weekend, he would have found himself standing on the podium wearing a pair of pretty pink size 42 Converse All Stars boots - and probably a pink face to match.
- Something was brewing centre-track at Sydney's Dunc Gray velodrome today - and it wasn't necessarily a secret race-winning plan. Rather, it was a plunger of aromatic black imported coffee specially brewed by an unlikely barista for the foreign team managers and coaches who had been complaining about the instant variety being offered up.
