In Paris, the track team put an exclamation mark on its best Olympic performance since Athens 2004 when Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer won silver and bronze in the Men’s Keirin.

It takes the total cycling medal tally across all four disciplines to eight, with three gold (Grace Brown in the Time Trial, the Men’s Team Pursuit and Saya Sakakibara in BMX Racing); two silver (Matthew Richardson in the Keirin and Sprint) and three bronze (Men’s Team Sprint, Matthew Glaetzer in the Keirin and Natalya Diehm in BMX Freestyle).

Georgia Baker also added a super-impressive fifth place in the Women’s Omnium on the final day of competition, only slipping off the podium in the closing stages of the points race, which ultimately decided the medals.

But the day belonged to the two Matthews, who survived a crash-marred Men’s Keirin final to claim Australia’s first medal in the event since Ryan Bayley in 2004.

For Matthew Glaetzer, it was the perfect way to end his fourth and final Olympics at the age of 31.

“I’ve had a lot of bad luck in my career, and geez, it’s good to finish on some good luck. But it’s not all luck; I’m pretty blessed and just grateful that I stayed upright in that final corner,” he said.

“They were bumping me, and I saw them all hit the deck. I was just trying to survive at that point, and all of a sudden I saw I was crossing the line for bronze. I couldn’t believe it—I felt like a bit of a Steve Bradbury—but it’s amazing.

 “To finish with an Olympic individual medal is something really special.”

For Matthew Richardson, it was his third medal of the Games after he was part of the Men’s Team Sprint bronze and finished second behind Dutch superstar Harrie Lavreysen in both the Sprint and Keirin.

“For a moment in the back straight, I thought I might get him, but he was smart with his lines and took it into the last corner to keep me wide and then duck down at the last minute,” he said.

“It’s not a case of ‘Harrie being better, so we’re satisfied with medals’; it’s more ‘‘we’re Olympic medallists and it’s a great feat’.

“Harrie winning doesn’t make me grateful to get silver, I race for the win, but this is better than fourth place.

“And the only thing better than being on the podium is being on the podium with your teammate.”

Georgia Baker rode a terrific Omnium and finished fifth behind American gold medallist Jennifer Valente.

She started the day strongly with third place in the scratch race, then cleverly worked her way into a three-rider break for the final 15 laps of the tempo race and sat second overall mid-way through the event.

Georgia then produced a huge performance in the elimination race when she and Valente were the last two riders left standing, and while she gave it her all in the final points race, she was unable to hold onto a spot on the podium.

“I’m pretty upset,” she said.

“I’m proud of how I rode and the three events prior. I was really happy with being consistent, and I can’t be disappointed because I didn’t leave anything out on the track, I gave it my all, but I still am disappointed because my goal was to get on the podium and I knew it was possible.

“I was just running out of legs, there were moments I wanted to go and there were some moments I was up high on the fence and a move went and I needed to be in it, but the wrong position at the wrong time, but I just didn’t quite have the little bit that I needed.”

 Reece Homfray