(Sports Network) - Argentina won a gold medal in track cycling on Tuesday, beating 15 other teams in the men's madison for the country's first gold of the Beijing Olympics. Juan Esteban Curuchet and Walter Fernando Perez finished first in just one of the sprints in the 200-lap race -- they occur every 20 laps -- but they were one of just three teams to gain a lap on the field.

Spain's team of Joan Llaneras and Antonio Tauler and the Russian team of Mikhail Ignatyev and Alexei Markov also gained a lap on the field, but they finished with fewer points than the Argentines.

Esteban and Curuchet followed their win in the third sprint with a fourth- place finish in the seventh and a third-place finish in the eighth, accumulating eight points for the win. Spain had seven points for silver and Russia grabbed six points for bronze.

For the Argentine Curuchet, it marked his last Olympics race.

"I wanted to go out with a medal," he said.

Belgium dominated the sprints, winning three of the 10 and racking up 17 points, but it fell behind a lap to the medallists to finish in fourth place.

Medal favorites Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins from Great Britain garnered a disappointing six points and finished ninth, while the United States team of Michael Friedman and Bobby Lea finished last in the field of 16 teams.

Despite the disappointing performance by Cavendish and Wiggins in the men's madison, Great Britain did continue to collect medals at the Laoshan Velodrome on Tuesday.

Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny claimed gold and silver, respectively, in the men's sprint, while four-time world sprint champion Victoria Pendleton won the women's event.

It brought the total medals won by Great Britain in the track cycling events to 12, nine more than any other country. Hoy claimed three golds in Beijing -- also winning the men's keirin and leading the men's team sprint victory.

Pendleton beat Anna Meares of Australia in the women's event, with Guo Shuang of China taking the bronze. Mickael Bourgain took bronze on the men's side.



Copyright 2008 The Sports Network
All rights reserved