LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The 2024 Olympics can boost track racing’s reputation, International Cycling Union President Brian Cookson hopes, with more medal events and better-suited venues.
"If people think track cycling is in any way in decline, the message is: ‘No, it is not,"’ Cookson told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday.
Despite the popular success of track cycling at the 2012 London Games, the next two Olympic velodromes have been among the most stressful venue issues for the UCI and local organizers.
A delayed velodrome is the last venue being built in Rio de Janeiro, and the 2020 Olympic velodrome is 120 kilometres (75 miles) from downtown Tokyo.
Cookson acknowledged to being "a little frustrated" with Rio delays, which include a cancelled test event, while using an existing velodrome two hours’ travel from Tokyo at Izu was a "less than desirable solution."
The UCI has already been encouraging the four 2024 Summer Games bidders to begin planning for track cycling, even though there are almost 18 months to the hosting vote. The candidates are Budapest, Hungary; Los Angeles; Paris; and Rome.
"Absolutely, we are," Cookson said. "We have talked to them already."
Paris clearly meets the UCI’s velodrome needs, having hosted the 2015 track world championships in a new arena at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, about 25 kilometres west of the capital city’s centre.
In Rio, a velodrome built for the 2007 Pan-American Games was demolished for not being up to Olympic standards and a new arena is being built at the Olympic Park.
The Siberian pine track is currently being laid, and the arena has yet to be linked up to the main electricity grid, Cookson said.
On Tuesday, Rio sports director Agberto Guimaraes personally assured the UCI leader at a meeting of the 28 Summer Games sports federations that the velodrome would be ready for a June 25-27 training event.
"Nobody is taking for granted your venue," Guimaraes said. "I can promise you your venue will be ready in June."