BRITAIN’S domination at the Laoshan Velodrome continued with three more medals before the venue closed its doors to the Olympics. Victoria Pendleton won gold in the women’s sprint, before Chris Hoy beat team-mate Jason Kenny in the final of the men’s sprint. Hoy became only the second Brit to win three gold medals with his win but there was disappointment for Parbold- based Bradley Wiggins, who missed out on his golden hat- trick as he and Mark Cavendish finished eighth in the Madison. Britain now have an incredible 14 medals in cycling in Beijing, and could still add to it in the BMX and mountain bike events before the Games end. Hoy defeated fellow Briton Jason Kenny to add the sprint title to the keirin and team sprint gold medals he won earlier in the Beijing Games programme to become the first British athlete to claim a trio of titles at a single Olympics since swimmer Henry Taylor at the 1908 Games. "It’s the most unbelievable feeling," said Hoy who looked to be struggling to control his emotions during the medal ceremony. "You cross the line and all the pressure and expectation evaporates and it’s like nothing else you’ve ever felt. "It’s about the process and the performance, breaking it down to the technical elements. That’s why the emotions come out, it just erupts out of you." British cycling’s performance director Dave Brailsford hailed triple Olympic gold winner Chris Hoy as a "true Olympic athlete" after the Scotsman completed his stunning medal haul at the Laoshan Velodrome in Beijing. "He’s resilient and he does genuinely embody those Olympic values of fair play and working hard, and he is the real deal," said Brailsford of the 32- year-old, who also possesses a gold medal for the kilo won in Athens four years ago. "I don’t think anybody can win three gold medals without being that genuine person that he is. He’s fun, he’s always making a joke around the dinner table. He’ll always sit and talk to anybody. "He’s a true gentleman and to me he embodies what a true Olympic athlete is meant to be." Pendleton added: "It doesn’t feel real yet. Everything went to plan but after the success of the team I felt it might be too much to ask," said Pendleton, who had to wait until the last day of competition to get her shot at a medal. "I couldn’t expect anything more – it’s a dream scenario. I feel like part of the team because you have to have a medal these days!" "I feel like a completely different athlete (from Athens), I enjoy it a lot more and I’m lucky to have people around me to help me improve." There was also delight in Qingdao as Paul Goodison’s Laser became the third British boat to win gold. Goodison needed only to finish ahead of Sweden’s Rasmus Myrgren to be assured of gold and he produced a tactically brilliant race, finishing ninth with just the Swede behind him to take gold and make up for his disappointment at missing the medals in Athens four years ago. And he said: "I think that definitely did make me stronger. "Just the fact that I came so close to a medal and missed out by one or two points may have been through being a little bit naive and not quite tough enough. "I think when the opportunity came today, I had to take it. You have to be so self-minded if you want to be a champion and you have to do what you have to do." Sarah Claxton was last in the 110m hurdles final, while Allan Scott and Andrew Turner both missed out on finals in the men's high hurdles, while Liverpool’s Andy Baddeley was well out of the medals in the 1500m. Martyn Rooney booked his spot in the 400m final with a late dash to finish second in his heat, but Andrew Steele missed out. There was also mixed fortunes in the 200m where Christian Malcolm reached the final but Marlon Devonish and Ireland’s Paul Hession missed out, but in the women’s event Emily Freeman booked her spot in the semi-finals. Jo Pavey pulled out of the 5,000m, but Jade Johnson and Goldie Sayers made it through to the finals of the long jump and javelin respectively. Britain are assured of a second boxing medal after Tony Jeffries saw off Hungary’s Imre Szello 10-2 in in his light heavyweight bout. And it was a superb day at the Worker’s Gymnasium for Ireland who secured their first two medals of the Olympics as both Kenny Egan – who will face Jeffries after beating Washington Silva of Brazil – and Paddy Barnes reached their semi-finals. Light flyweight Barnes saw off Poland’s Lukasz Maszczyk and admitted he had exceeded all expectations. Barnes said: "My aim coming here was just to get a fight, to compete at the Olympics. I’ve achieved that. I’ve got a medal now and gone beyond my achievements. "Last year, even when I qualified for the Olympics, I didn’t really care. But now I’m here and seen the atmosphere and what it means to everybody else – it’s amazing." There could be two more medals in the sailing today with both windsurfers well placed to win podium places. Nick Dempsey was fifth in his final race before the medal race to stay second overall in the men’s RS:X, while Bryony Shaw is third after a second- place finish. Penny Clark was seventh in the medal race of the Laser Radial class to finish 10th overall, while the rest of the action was postponed. Britain are in a good position to add to their medal total today in windsurfing categories. Athens bronze medallist Dempsey placed fifth in race 10 to remain second in the men’s RS:X standings with 46 points, one behind Julien Bontemps and level with Tom Ashley of New Zealand. Meanwhile, Shaw finished second in her final preliminary race to move up to third in the RS:X women’s standings on 41 points, eight points behind leader Yin Jian of China. Tim Brabants moved into the semi-finals of the 500m kayaking a day after reaching the final of the 1000m, while Lucy Wainwright also qualified in the women’s 500m, but Jess Walker and Anna Hemmings were last in their K2 500m heat. Alistair Brownlee was the best of Britain’s three male triathletes with a 12th-placed finish, two ahead of Will Clarke, while Tim Don failed to finish after struggling with illness throughout the race. Emma Hindle was seventh in the dressage individual Grand Prix at the equestrian in Hong Kong, while Jenna Randall and Olivia Allison performed well but finished in 14th in the synchronised swimming, meaning they missed out on a place in the final. But Randall said: "Top 16 was our aim and we’ve bettered that with 14th less than a point from making the final. That’s an amazing achievement. "We received three nines in that score and that means "excellent". In just 18 months we’ve gone from scoring sevens to nines and that’s a big leap. "These Games were all about experience and we now face a very intense and important four years going into London." The men’s hockey team needed to beat Australia by eight clear goals to reach the semi- finals, but came up short in a 3-3 draw which means they must now face Korea in the 5th/6th play-off on Saturday. | 
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