Day 7 BBC Two: 22.00-22.35 Olympics

, years of training, four years of hard work, four years of commitment

from team, family and everyone involved and these guys know what it

is all about, Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Steve Redgrave. At the moment,

Britain's most successful Olympians, six gold medals for you, Chris, 5

million, Steve. Bradley Wiggins wants to reach five and be level

with you and you want to see him do it. Explain how difficult it gets as

the Olympic cycle path by. What becomes hard that you did not think

about earlier? I am involved in a team sport, so what my job was, was

divine younger people who could pull me along to win the gold medal. That

is what happened to me when I was drafted in as a youngster in 1984.

It is about dedication and putting that sacrifice in. Around games the

time everybody will talk about the sacrifice it is, but it is not a

sacrifice because we love doing what we do. To be on a stage like this,

velodrome cycling, is an amazing atmosphere. I have been here for the

last four games and I keep myself tucked away and away from it, but it

is the sheer determination. Once you get to a level it is not easy to

keep that. Each four years you have to be better than you were before

and you are always looking for an improvement. There are no books that

say, you have broken all the records now, and this is how you do it next

time if you followed this and this. It is you writing the books as you

are doing it. How did you find your final Olympics in London? You were

the same age then as Bradley is now. It was the toughest of all my

experiences. Despite the denial of it all, your body starts to slow

down a bit. For a one-off effort, I could produce the same output, but

the recovery I was struggling in. I had injuries, I had to beat off

challenges from team-mates like Jason Kenny in the individual

events. But without that pressure from the younger riders coming

through I would not have managed to keep working that hard, so I was

inspired by my young team-mates to push me on and I was in the team

sprint with them as well. I have a question for you. How long has it

taken you to come to an Olympic Games without wanting to be out

there? I am still itching to get on the track. I have you got past that?

When did it happen? I have not got past it, I would love to be

competing and I would love to be keep competing on the track, rather

than the rowing because of the weather! As the years go on you know

you cannot even dream about it. I am well past that now as well. You live

to other people's achievements. Giving you have a close connection

with the rowers, you could still feel their success, almost like a

paternal feeling of pride. I get a kick out of passing on the knowledge

and passing it on to the next generation coming through. What

happens with the next generation is they do it better than you were

doing it because they have learnt from what you did and the generation

before that. You are always looking for that improvement. Sport is in

that situation and it will always get better. You were feeling proud

for Callum Skinner, I know. We are heading back to live action and we

have racing in progress at the moment. Chris Boardman and Simon

Brotherton can tell us all about Francois Pervis is a two times world

champion and a couple of years ago he looked unbeatable. All the riders

are obliged to take these on-board cameras on and it adds an extra

element for us. Given the hard work that goes into the aerodynamics and

pursuits that the riders were, how much is that a factor when you put a

camera on the bike? They neutralise it, they can put the camera wherever

they want. Everybody chooses to put it at the back behind the leg so it

does the least damage. It is 250 grams, though. Francois Pervis tries

to force his opponent up the track and he gathers some height. Jeffry

Hoogland will lead out the sprint, given no option by the French man.

Has Francois Pervis got the power and the speed in his legs to close

the gap on the Dutch man? He is slowly making inroads. This will be

really exciting, the Dutch man on. And Francois Pervis, who was the

world sprint champion in the last couple of years, has to go into the

repechage already. Jeffry Hoogland wrote it well, but so did Francois

Pervis. He forced him to lead out and he hurried away at him, but he

just did not have the engine in the end to finish the job. He wrote it

with the form he has not got, if you like, the form of the past. Jeffry

Hoogland did his own thing, the stronger of the two. The action

comes thick and fast on the track and the next race will be the last

one in the first round. A sporting congratulations from the Frenchman

to Jeffry Hoogland. We have got an old Kiwi affair here between two

riders who rode as a team. They rode as the sprint World Championship

team and now they are facing each other. Sam Webster is nearest the

camera. He is up against Edward Dawkins. Riding on the same team

they know each other well and this is the worst-case scenario for a

nation, both of your riders riding each other. Webster wants to take

the lead. He wants to get on with it as well. That is the quickest

opening half lap we have seen so far in these sprints. Smarting from the

team pursuit. They thought they would take it from Team GB. They did

not do anything wrong, they rode to the level we expected from them.

They were very quick, they did not bank on the British being quicker.

It was an epic final. Webster is trying to control things. Both are

in during these types sprinters, so they can do this. 200 metres to go

and Webster will lead. Sam Webster is the Commonwealth sprint champion.

He has control of this race. Very clean and a fast time because of the

way they rode it. They wound it up very early, the pair of them.

Webster was not hanging around. He stayed at the front and never showed

any sign of relinquishing that position. A very assertive

performance from him. Never allowed it to get tactical, kept it

physical. Never let go of control of that one. There was nothing he could

do. There we are, there is the result. The pair of them won a

silver medal yesterday in the men's team sprint. I wonder whether

Webster can go on and get involved in the hunt for the medals here in

the next couple of days. The men's sprint competition is fairly strong

out. A good crowd inside the velodrome. The centre of the track

is a hive of activity. The British pen is in the middle of the picture

and is right next to the Australian one. Next up it is the women's team

sprint. CLARE BALDING: We will be back with that very shortly.

What do Callum Skinner and Jason Kenny need to do tomorrow and

Sunday. So far they have qualified first and second, which is

incredible. Jason got the fastest time ever at sea level. The only

time quicker was set at high altitude in Mexico. Callum Skinner

went faster than Jason's previous record at London. They rode very

tactically and astutely and they looked very calm and confident and

these are the times when you can make mistakes, when you are a bit

more relaxed, you switched off for a split second and you make a mistake,

but they did not. They are perfectly so far. This is for the bronze medal

in the women's team sprint. Unfortunately, the British team did

not qualify and they are not involved at all.

Anna Meares on the left of your picture gets things under way for

Australia. The German duo were Olympic champions four years ago.

Stephanie Morton won a gold medal in the Paralympics as a tandem pilot

four years ago. A close changeover by the Australians. A solid ride

from them. Who wants it most? So close? Germany get it on the line,

but you can see how close it was. Australia just edged out by the

blinking of an eye. Anna Meares got them off the blocks a full tenth of

a second faster, which is enormous in this game. But what a finish by

Germany to bring that home. Kristina Vogel is such a competitor.

It was a great finish by her. She laid off an awful long way and I

wonder whether she left too much work to do, but she was accelerating

hard. She has real confidence to do that and it paid dividends. These

riders averaging over 55 kilometres an hour. They barely had time to get

the start sheet ready. China against Russia. The Russians are the world

champions. The Chinese set a new world record in the last ride.

If you thought Australia were unlucky to miss out on a medal, they

were unlucky. The gold medal race in the women's team sprint. The

Russians are working hard. It is hundreds of a second, but the

Chinese got a slightly better start. They are leading by over a tenth of

a second. The gold medal is on the line and less than half a lap to go.

And China is going to take it. China IV Olympic champions. They thought

they had won it four years ago in London, but they were disqualified.

They felt they were robbed and the gold went to Germany. There will not

be any arguing about this one. China have the gold and Russia have to

settle for the silver. It was a fantastic final by them.

Not their fastest ride, perhaps, but they did enough. The fatigue from

these right answer, of course. They delivered when it matters. They

didn't make mistakes under pressure this time, well-deserved, that one,

to be honest, they've had so many small issues and technical

infringements. World Championships, Olympic Games, but this time they

brought it all together. This was a repeat of the World Championship

final. When China were disqualified. I don't sense there was any question

about this one. They were fast at the time as well, thought they had

won, then saw it taken away from them, bitterly disappointed. They

turned it around the menu that perform or was there, and built on

it to go even faster here. -- knew that the former. The disappointment

from Great Britain was not being here and taking part. It would have

been a tall order to compete with these teams. Great Britain were

fifth in the World Championship this year. Failed to qualify. It is China

who take the honours in the women's team sprint.

A lot of people in the cycling world will feel it is vindication for

China having been relegated at the World Championships. Their coach is

a Frenchman. Yes, he was a rider in the mid-90s, he coached the French,

the Russians, now the Chinese coach. Lots of ex-riders go on to beat

coaches, then change nations. Lots of cross pollination, lots of ideas

and training knowledge gets spread around. It's why you often see the

standard razors across-the-board, you don't often see one country

getting a massive advantage because information gets spread around. I

love to see the way they celebrate, brilliant. It's interesting, the

contrast between the noise level here, and maybe Lagoa when you hear

no crowd at all. You do your whole half an hour warm up in silence,

your race of nearly 1800 metres, then there is a big noise at the

end. By that time you are too exhausted to take it on board.

Confirmation China to gold ahead of Russia who took silver and Germany

kept Australia and Anna Meares out of the medals by taking bronze.

Great Britain against Spain in the hockey, must win for Great Britain

to progress. This is on BBC Four. This looks good, they've scored.

They may have done. No, still 1-1. Eight minutes to go. It's on BBC

Four if you want to watch. In tennis Gael Monfils and Kei Nishikori in

the third set tie-break, for the rights to meet Andy Murray. It is

match point to Monfils. He must have double faulted. 6-6, about to change

ends. Its online if you want to watch that, we'll bring you an

update as and when. Rafa Nadal in the semifinals, he meets Juan Martin

Del Potro. Andy Murray beats Steve Johnson in a third set tie-break.

The men beside me are here to hopefully witness Sir Bradley

Wiggins becoming the most successful Olympian in British sporting

history. Michael Johnson has been looking at what it takes to become

the greatest. I want everybody out there on TV to

know that I am the greatest. There are those who just tell you

straight. You can't argue with that. For the rest of us, well, we need to

define ourselves. The games combine the Greek strength and beauty. We're

constantly measuring, comparing, contrasting. A champion needs great

determination, and implacable will to win, killer instinct. That's the

beauty of sport. Every age produces its heroes. So who is the greatest?

Usain Bolt has blown them all away. History is being made. Carl Lewis. I

was standing right on the top with a pretty gold medal. Amongst all these

great one man stands out. He has made the 15th Olympic Games is. To

the record books tell the true story? The champion becomes the

legend. A new Olympic and world record. Mark Spitz won gold every

time he swam in every event the world record was shattered. Michael

Phelps's 22nd Olympic gold. The greatest British Olympian. If

anybody sees me go anywhere near a boat, you have my permission to

shoot me. What a great Olympian. Or is it about what touches us?

Faultless. That is Olympic history. The emotion. Gold. A moment captured

in time. I'm glad to have won the 100 metres here in Berlin, thank

you. The debate goes on and on and on. But that is the beauty of sport.

If we had all the answers, well, that would be no fun at all.

I'm sure you saw last night Michael Phelps extended his lead at the top

of the all-time extraordinary gold winning Olympians.

22 golds for him, the next best is only an nine, it's ridiculous. What

do you think the balances between growing older and the body starting

to fail in ways you weren't expecting, and the brain starting to

gain things? Hopefully the more experience you have, the more you

get switched on to it. You become cleverer of how you train and

prepare and race. The body may be slowing down in certain ways... You

aren't able to produce as often, so you have to time it's better and

train more sensibly. One of the things that used to happen with

James Cracknell, he was ten years younger, he always wanted to be the

best performance, every day. If you try to do that, you will fatigue

over time, you have to come up, step down, each time you come up, you

come up higher, you have to be smarter. Pick the times you are

going to have your performance. Maybe that is where Bradley Wiggins

is getting smarter. He knew another 5-10 years trying to compete in the

Tour de France would have psychologically and physically been

more than enough for him whereas the track was like a change was as good

as a rest. He's come back refreshed, enjoying it. He seems so relaxed,

you can see the weight of the world on his shoulders in 2012. He was

excelling at that point, but at the same time now you see him, he's a

happier man. This was him winning the time trial in London. He said

there wouldn't be much that could match what he did in that summer. It

was only ten days after he had won the Tour de France. He is a man who

has so much focus, so much concentration, for all the glib

humour, he's a massive historian of sport. He loves watching and

listening to other sports. He'll be really glad you are here, both of

you are here, obviously Chris. He will expect you to be here, he won't

expect Steve to be here. He's disappearing underneath to do... Off

to the loo probably. I started to ask that question and thought, don't

as is the answer. That was fine. He'll be thrilled you are here. When

you relive your career, did you realise in the moment of winning

your fifth gold medal it wasn't just another race, wasn't even just

another Olympics? It was a slice of real history. You are not really

aware at the time, you are in your own little bubble, concentrating on

what you do, talking about the processes of getting to that point.

Nerves kick in, used to suffer nerves the day before, certainly the

morning of. Once you got to the hour before, that is where you meet by

the boat, chat through tactics one more time, 35 minutes before you put

hands on the boat, put it on there, then you are in your domain, I

imagine it's similar. Waiting around is the thing you can't practice.

Being on a bike, in about, it's what you can practice. Once there, you

know you are in your element, and you can do it. How close this race

was, I was pretty confident from 250 metres out, almost the whole course,

totally in control of that. We thought we should win by a little

bit more, but Slovenia who finished fourth did the fastest 500 of all of

us, so they pushed the Australians, the Australians pushed the

Italians... If you look at it closely the Italians don't look

around to us at all, they are looking at what's happening behind

them, that is my take anyway. You made it, though, and it was huge, a

massive moment. For you, Chris, you got your swansong in London in front

of a home crowd. Dix gold medal. I couldn't have asked for more. --

sixth. It was my final race, final Olympics in front of a home crowd. I

was purely trying to focus on performance, not dwell on the

consequences of winning or losing, fear of failure, thought of success.

When you crossed the line, that is when the emotion hits you. The

podium ceremony, I mean, didn't even get onto the podium before I started

crying, I had this massive lump in my throat, couldn't contain the

emotions. You behave in a logical, controlled almost robotic manner to

block out all the distractions, not big emotionally, behave emotionally.

When you finish you can let it out, you can enjoy it, so cut the

atmosphere. The noise, just that electricity inside the London

stadium was like nothing I'd ever experienced. I wonder, with Bradley

tonight, we won't see any emotion until after the race. Whether it may

come flooding out. Are you expecting him, is this the last ever race for

him, not expecting him to retire? I'll be surprised if he has a

massive emotional release tonight, he'll continue racing next year.

He's seeing this as another stepping stone. Maybe trying to play it down,

treating it that way to deal with the pressure. I see a man who is

very much in control, very calm. He has one aim, to win this gold medal,

nothing else will do. You don't sense he's got pressure on his

shoulders, is going to fulfil his team role, has confidence in his

team-mates. Fingers crossed he can do it. One of the secret to

longevity, it may be true for both of you, he loves the idea he's doing

things nobody else is doing. He loves it when he's in the gym

earlier than anyone else, when he was young, riding to Kent for

Christmas lunch with his family, knowing nobody else was doing that.

It's a little bit of him that just likes to be different. He does like

to be different, that's what I love about him in some ways. It's about

the process. If you start thinking about what this means in history,

your own career, what he will do next, it's taking away from what you

are doing here and now and you need to have every bone in your body,

every muscle, tuned in to doing it now. It's all about the here and now

and what happens after will happen. The great champions are very much

able to switch into that zone and think the next couple of minutes,

what I'm going to do, where I will sit, what routine I will go through,

before they go through it. You are running an automatic. You've got to

have that type, the excitement of the event you are in, to be able to

get the extra performance out. Doesn't matter how hard you pushing

training, you have to push yourself in training, you can always push

harder in a race situation. An extreme form of mindfulness. It is,

also an element of realising you will hurt yourself, you go out there

and it would be painful. If it's a world record and you are beating the

other team, all four British riders will be on the limit of what they

can physically deal with, what they are capable of tolerating. If that

makes sense. Yes. It almost scares you when you go out there, you are

about to compete, pain can be a big part of it. You block it out, you

don't think about the consequences of winning or losing, anything, it's

what can I do, what is the process of my job here? Do it to the best of

your ability. It is painful. Journalists love to talk about

sacrifice, pain and hurt. That is what winning Olympic medals is all

about. Being at the peak of performance. You know it's going to

hurt, it's part of the DNA of what you do. You're not looking for it,

beforehand you hope it'll be an easy path through. In fact, you know you

have to do it. It's in the back of your mind. The tougher the race the

bigger the situation, the more you switch after that. You think, in my

circumstances, two boat side-by-side, its stroke for stroke,

you think about moving your boat better than the others. You don't

think about the pain. Sometimes it digs in a little bit. The mindset

going into that is, it's hurting me, we are favourites to win, what it's

doing to them? It must be killing them. It gives you a boost. That is

where the Great Britain team, we should stress it's not all about

Bradley Wiggins, he's not the strongest member of that team in

many ways, but Ed Clancy, Owain Doull, Steven Burke as well, they

have set a world record getting to this gold medal race, they are

feeling fantastic. They didn't have to break the world record second

round, they only had to win their heat, to have gone that quick shows

they have the confidence. I reckon they will go at least a second

quicker in the final. They may or may not need to. When they start

getting close to the Australians... If they can get close enough,

slipstreaming them, they might even catch them. It's probably a tall

order, we'll wait and see. We'll show you that race on BBC One. To

bring you the latest on the hockey on BBC Four. It's just finished. It

has finished 1-1. It means... I think it has anyway, unless Great

Britain score here. They hit the post. In the very last second. It's

finished 1-1. Spain celebrate because Great Britain are in big

trouble there. Almost certain not to progress. In the tennis, Nishikori

against Gael Monfils. The winner of this match will meet Andy Murray.

Monfils had match point on the server, but he handed victory to Kei

Nishikori. Japan having a very good Olympics. The fans will be out in

force to cheer on Kei Nishikori against Andy Murray. We're heading

to BBC One because it will be the build-up to the gold medal race. Sir

Bradley Wiggins and his team in the team pursuit final. We have an awful

lot more action to come. The velodrome is already humming with

activity and excitement. You're coming across as, frankly,

ridiculous. I'm flabbergasted by that.

Will they get burnt... You have done an appalling job of

selling them online. Erm...