CYCLING: On face value, Australia’s performance at the cycling velodrome was much better than the Beijing Olympic Games four years ago when our only medal return was a silver in the sprint, won by Anna Meares.

This time, Meares’ sparkling gold medal win against Great Britain’s Victoria Pendleton highlighted a five-medal return, which included a silver in the team pursuit, and three bronze (Shane Perkins in the sprint, Annette Edmondson in the women’s omnium, and Meares and Kaarle McCulloch in the team sprint).

But the expectations in London were also much higher than Beijing, after Australia’s eight medal return at the world championships in Melbourne in April.

Head coach Kevin Tabotta acknowledged the gap with Great Britain (who won seven gold, one silver and one bronze) had widened significantly since Melbourne, but put it down to “home crowd” advantage.

“There’s been a bit of thought about how the gap has become so big since Melbourne, but a lot of it does come down to home crowd,” Tabotta said.

“In Melbourne, we medalled in eight out of 10 events and a lot of those results were extended as a result of a home crowd.

“They’re a very well prepared team, the Great Britain team, no question about that. They prepare for one week every four years, and they do it better than anyone else in the world. And we’ve got some work to do, but so does every other nation in the world.”

For all that, Tabotta said the Aussies’ overall performance was encouraging.

“Our worst result was fifth place out of 10 events, so we had to scrap for everything,” he said.

“The five medals weren’t exactly what we were after at the start of the week, but we’re happy that we were in the game in every event, and at the end of the day Anna capped it off for us.

“It’s been a long time coming and it’s a really proud moment for her and her coach Gary West, but also for myself and all the staff. There’s a lot of work that’s gone into it and she’s produced, so a fantastic outcome.”

On the road, veteran performers Stuart O’Grady and Michael Rogers again showed their class and resilience with sterling performances in the road race and road time trial respectively.

O’Grady, 38, competing in his sixth Games, finished sixth in the road race to cap an extraordinary Olympic career, while Rogers, 32, competing at his fourth Games, was also sixth in the time trial behind his flying professional teammate Bradley Wiggins.

Tour de France champion Cadel Evans did not take part in the time-trial, citing exhaustion, after an arduous campaign in this year’s tour, and the road race.

In BMX, Adelaide’s Sam Willoughby performed up to his world champion ranking by dominating the semi-final before winning the silver medal behind Beijing’s gold medallist Maris Strombergs of Latvia, who went back-to-back.

Caroline Buchanan also dominated the semi final, but could not produce the same form in the ride off for gold, finishing fifth, and was in tears and distraught afterwards.

Australia’s men’s and women’s competitors performed up to expectation in the mountain bike cross-country events at Hadleigh Farm.

Dan McConnell, 26, improved on his 39th placing in Beijing to finish 21st in a much stronger field, and now has his sights set firmly on the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Rebecca Henderson, 20, also was buoyed by her 25th placing, and feels she will be able to produce a much stronger performance in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 after four more years experience under her belt.

Michael Stevens in London

Olympics.com.au