Portugal wins gold medal in track cycling at Madison Men’s tournament. The Olympics 2024 saw both Rui Oliveira and Iúri Leitão win their country’s first ever Gold Medal.
An Unforgettable Day For Rui Oliveira And Iúri Leitão
Iúri Leitão has already won a medal in a national track cycling tournament. This tournament was conducted back in February. After getting a medal at that tournament, the hopes for this year’s Olympics were kept high. Those hopes were truly kept alive when the duo from Portugal, Rui Oliveira and Iúri Leitão won the Madison’s Men Gold Medal.
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The race is conducted in laps. One player cycle while the other rests and the relay race concludes after finishing all the laps. The Portuguese stars started a bit slow. All hopes were vanishing. Right after 40 laps, something changed. Both the Portuguese had some fire in them. This took them to their victory. The last five sprints were being conducted for every 10 laps in the tournament. Before all this, the Portuguese were holding only 8 points.
The duo changed their moves, and they took 2 more points in the 16th position. The last 4 sprints were quite rapid which made them take 25 more points. They also got 20 more points because they were in the lead and left everyone behind. This marked the end of the race with a total of 55 points. These points were enough for a gold medal.
First place was taken by Portugal. While the second and third places were taken by Italy and Denmark. You can check the results of the Madison Men’s Race below with the points as well:
- Portugal (Gold Medal): Rui Oliveira and Iúri Leitão with 55 Points.
- Italy (Silver Medal): Consonni and E. Viviani with 47 Points.
- Denmark (Bronze Medal): Mørkøv and N. Larsen with 41 Points.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro Was Also Present For Support
The Portuguese duo later told the media that their first goal was to secure the position for Olympic diploma. This can only be done if they finish within the first 8 positions. This goal was at risk at some point when the duo had fallen out of the top 10 positions.
This made them race against time. Both of them sprinted to take their country in the lead. Before everyone could know, they were in the lead by only two points with 10 laps to go. They further took 10 points in the final laps to make a historic win for themselves and their country.
As soon as the race ended, both Rui Oliveira and Iúri Leitão were seen hugging each other for minutes. They couldn’t believe that they had won an Olympic Gold Medal. The pair was seen crying on the pair before they were congratulated by the Prime Minister of Portugal, Luis Montenegro. The Prime Minister was also present at the race and was seen holding the Portugal flag in the technical area of the race. Rui Oliveira could not believe what he had done, he says:
I have no words. This whole thing is a dream. I don’t think I’m living this. This is just, what the fuck. I have never won a single race in my life. It was so many disappointments to go through these years and to finally… if someone told me I would win my first race at the Olympics, I would say you’re fucking kidding me.
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