Cycling at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's sprint

The men's sprint cycling event at the 1984 Summer Olympics took place from 31 July to 3 August and was one of eight cycling events at the 1984 Olympics.^[1] Once again, the limit on cyclists per nation was raised to 2 (it had been 1 from 1928 to 1956, 2 from 1960 to 1972, and 1 again in 1976 and 1980). The event was won by Mark Gorski of the United States, the nation's first victory in the men's sprint and first medal in the event since John Henry Lake took bronze in 1900. The final was all-American, as Nelson Vails took silver, becoming the first Olympic cycling medalist of African descent.^[2] Japan earned its first medal in the men's sprint with Tsutomu Sakamoto's bronze. France's five-Games podium streak in the event ended.

Men's sprint at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad
German stamp commemorating 1984 Olympic cycling
Venue	Olympic Velodrome, Los Angeles
Dates	31 July-3 August
Competitors	34 from 24 nations
Medalists
Mark Gorski  United States Nelson Vails  United States Tsutomu Sakamoto  Japan
← 1980 1988 →

Background

This was the 18th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1912. The two returning quarterfinalists from 1980 were sixth-place finisher Heinz Isler of Switzerland and seventh-place finisher Kenrick Tucker of Australia. The Soviet-led boycott was particularly disruptive in this event, with the East German team dominant at the time. In particular, Lutz Heßlich was the best sprinter in the world for most of the 1980s and would have had a strong opportunity for three straight gold medals if not for the boycott; he had won the 1979 and 1983 World Championships and the 1980 Olympic gold, and would go on to win the 1985 and 1987 World Championships and the 1988 Olympic gold. The 1981 and 1982 World Champion and 1980 Olympic bronze medalist, Soviet Sergei Kopylov, was also kept out due to the boycott. Of the nations that were competing in Los Angeles, the host Americans were favored. Mark Gorski had beaten Kopylov multiple times in 1983. Nelson Vails was also a top contender.^[3]

The Cayman Islands and Chinese Taipei each made their debut in the men's sprint. France made its 18th appearance, the only nation to have competed at every appearance of the event.

Competition format

This sprint competition involved a series of head-to-head matches. With a larger field due to allowing two cyclists per nation instead of just one, the competition ballooned to 11 rounds: six main rounds and three repechages, two of which were two-round repechages.^[3][4]

• Round 1: The 34 entrants were divided into 12 heats, most with 3 cyclists but a few with 2 (including one heat that was reduced to 2 by a withdrawal). The winner of each heat advanced directly to round 2 (12 cyclists), while all other cyclists who competed were sent to the first repechage semifinals (21 cyclists).
• First repechage semifinals: The 21 cyclists were divided into 8 heats, each with 2 or 3 cyclists. The winner of each heat advanced to round 2 (8 cyclists), while the remaining cyclists went to the first repechage finals (13 cyclists).
• First repechage finals: The 13 cyclists were divided into 4 heats, with 3 or 4 cyclists each. The winner of each heat advanced to round 2 (4 cyclists), with all others eliminated (9 cyclists).
• Round 2: The 24 cyclists were divided into 12 heats of 2 cyclists each. The winner of each heat advanced to the 1/8 finals (12 cyclists) while losers went to the second repechage (12 cyclists).
• Second repechage: The 12 cyclists competed in 6 heats of 2 cyclists. Winners advanced to the 1/8 finals, losers were eliminated.
• 1/8 finals: The 18 remaining cyclists competed in a 1/8 finals round. There were 6 heats in this round, with 3 cyclists in each. The top cyclist in each heat advanced to the quarterfinals (6 cyclists), while the remaining two in each heat went to the third repechage semifinals (12 cyclists).
• Third repechage semifinals: This round featured 4 heats, with 3 cyclists each. The winner of each heat advanced to the third repechage finals (4 cyclists); the others were eliminated (8 cyclists).
• Third repechage finals: The 4 cyclists advancing to this round were divided into 2 heats of 2 cyclists each. The winners advanced to the quarterfinals while the losers were eliminated.
• Quarterfinals: Beginning with the quarterfinals, all matches were one-on-one competitions and were held in best-of-three format. There were 4 quarterfinals, with the winner of each advancing to the semifinals and the loser going to the fifth-eighth classification race.
• Semifinals: The two semifinals provided for advancement to the gold medal final for winners and to the bronze medal final for losers.
• Finals: Both a gold medal final and a bronze medal final were held, as well as a classification final for fifth through eighth places for quarterfinal losers.

Records

The records for the sprint are 200 metre flying time trial records, kept for the qualifying round in later Games as well as for the finish of races.

World record	Omar Pkhakadze (URS)	10.61	Mexico City, Mexico	22 October 1967
Olympic record	Sergei Kopylov (URS)	10.47	Moscow, Soviet Union	26 July 1980

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday, 31 July 1984	10:00 12:00 12:15 12:30 12:45	Round 1 First repechage semifinals First repechage finals Round 2 Second repechage
Wednesday, 1 August 1984	10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00	1/8 finals Third repechage semifinals Third repechage finals Quarterfinals
Thursday, 2 August 1984	10:00	Semifinals
Friday, 3 August 1984	14:00	Finals

Results

Round 1

Round 1 heat 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Mark Gorski	United States	10.87	Q
2	Leon Richardson	Antigua and Barbuda		R

Round 1 heat 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Marcelo Alexandre	Argentina	11.87	Q
2	Tsutomu Sakamoto	Japan		R

Round 1 heat 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Katsuo Nakatake	Japan	11.92	Q
2	Charles Pile	Barbados		R
3	Paulo Jamur	Brazil		R

Round 1 heat 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Gabriele Sella	Italy	11.54	Q
2	Brian Lyn	Antigua and Barbuda		R
3	Murray Steele	New Zealand		R

Round 1 heat 5

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Philippe Vernet	France	11.31	Q
2	Claudio Iannone	Argentina		R
3	Deogracias Asuncion	Philippines		R

Round 1 heat 6

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Gerhard Scheller	West Germany	11.29	Q
2	Ian Stanley	Jamaica		R
3	Ernest Moodie	Cayman Islands		R

Round 1 heat 7

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Mark Barry	Great Britain	11.84	Q
2	James Joseph	Guyana		R
3	Gene Samuel	Trinidad and Tobago		R

Round 1 heat 8

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Nelson Vails	United States	11.07	Q
2	José Antonio Urquijo	Chile		R
3	Kenrick Tucker	Australia		R

Round 1 heat 9

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Franck Dépine	France	11.49	Q
2	Hugo Daya	Colombia		R
3	Max Rainsford	Australia		R

Round 1 heat 10

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Vincenzo Ceci	Italy	12.01	Q
2	Heinz Isler	Switzerland		R
3	Rodolfo Guaves	Philippines		R

Round 1 heat 11

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Alex Ongaro	Canada	11.43	Q
2	Lee Fu-hsiang	Chinese Taipei		R
—	Rolf Morgan Hansen	Norway	DNS

Round 1 heat 12

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Fredy Schmidtke	West Germany	11.80	Q
2	Frank Orban	Belgium		R
3	Rosman Alwi	Malaysia		R

First repêchage semifinals

First repechage semifinal 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Tsutomu Sakamoto	Japan	11.35	Q
2	Brian Lyn	Antigua and Barbuda		R

First repechage semifinal 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Murray Steele	New Zealand	12.09	Q
2	Deogracias Asuncion	Philippines		R

First repechage semifinal 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Claudio Iannone	Argentina	11.51	Q
2	Leon Richardson	Antigua and Barbuda		R

First repechage semifinal 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	José Antonio Urquijo	Chile	11.64	Q
2	Ian Stanley	Jamaica		R
3	Charles Pile	Barbados		R

First repechage semifinal 5

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Gene Samuel	Trinidad and Tobago	11.89	Q
2	Paulo Jamur	Brazil		R
3	Ernest Moodie	Cayman Islands		R

First repechage semifinal 6

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Kenrick Tucker	Australia	11.23	Q
2	Hugo Daya	Colombia		R
3	James Joseph	Guyana		R

First repechage semifinal 7

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Frank Orban	Belgium	11.53	Q
2	Lee Fu-hsiang	Chinese Taipei		R
3	Heinz Isler	Switzerland		R

First repechage semifinal 8

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Rosman Alwi	Malaysia	11.58	Q
2	Max Rainsford	Australia		R
3	Rodolfo Guaves	Philippines		R

First repêchage finals

First repechage final 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Paulo Jamur	Brazil	11.92	Q
2	Brian Lyn	Antigua and Barbuda
3	James Joseph	Guyana

First repechage final 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Charles Pile	Barbados	11.51	Q
2	Deogracias Asuncion	Philippines
3	Ernest Moodie	Cayman Islands

First repechage final 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Max Rainsford	Australia	11.79	Q
2	Leon Richardson	Antigua and Barbuda
3	Heinz Isler	Switzerland

First repechage final 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Lee Fu-hsiang	Chinese Taipei	11.90	Q
2	Hugo Daya	Colombia
3	Rodolfo Guaves	Philippines
4	Ian Stanley	Jamaica

Round 2

Round 2 heat 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Mark Gorski	United States	10.79	Q
2	Paulo Jamur	Brazil		R

Round 2 heat 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Marcelo Alexandre	Argentina	12.68	Q
2	Max Rainsford	Australia		R

Round 2 heat 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Katsuo Nakatake	Japan	12.05	Q
2	Lee Fu-hsiang	Chinese Taipei		R

Round 2 heat 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Gabriele Sella	Italy	11.16	Q
2	Charles Pile	Barbados		R

Round 2 heat 5

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Philippe Vernet	France	10.94	Q
2	Rosman Alwi	Malaysia		R

Round 2 heat 6

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Fredy Schmidtke	West Germany	11.36	Q
2	Kenrick Tucker	Australia		R

Round 2 heat 7

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Frank Orban	Belgium	11.33	Q
2	Mark Barry	Great Britain		R

Round 2 heat 8

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Nelson Vails	United States	10.80	Q
2	Gene Samuel	Trinidad and Tobago		R

Round 2 heat 9

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Claudio Iannone	Argentina	11.79	Q
2	Franck Dépine	France		R

Round 2 heat 10

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Vincenzo Ceci	Italy	11.52	Q
2	José Antonio Urquijo	Chile		R

Round 2 heat 11

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Tsutomu Sakamoto	Japan	11.07	Q
2	Alex Ongaro	Canada		R

Round 2 heat 12

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Gerhard Scheller	West Germany	11.11	Q
2	Murray Steele	New Zealand		R

Second repêchage

Second repechage heat 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Alex Ongaro	Canada	11.23	Q
2	Max Rainsford	Australia

Second repechage heat 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Murray Steele	New Zealand	11.92	Q
2	Paulo Jamur	Brazil

Second repechage heat 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Lee Fu-hsiang	Chinese Taipei	11.58	Q
2	José Antonio Urquijo	Chile

Second repechage heat 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Franck Dépine	France	11.62	Q
2	Charles Pile	Barbados

Second repechage heat 5

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Mark Barry	Great Britain	11.64	Q
2	Rosman Alwi	Malaysia

Second repechage heat 6

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Kenrick Tucker	West Germany	11.46	Q
2	Gene Samuel	New Zealand

1/8 finals

1/8 final 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Mark Gorski	United States	10.89	Q
2	Claudio Iannone	Argentina		R
3	Alex Ongaro	Canada		R

1/8 final 2

The second resulted in an appeal that determined all three riders were at fault. Ceci was relegated to the repechage, while Alexandre and Lee re-ran the heat.

Original

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
—	Marcelo Alexandre	Argentina		Re-run
	Lee Fu-hsiang	Chinese Taipei		Re-run
	Vincenzo Ceci	Italy		R

Re-run

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Marcelo Alexandre	Argentina	12.30	Q
2	Lee Fu-hsiang	Chinese Taipei		R

1/8 final 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Kenrick Tucker	Australia	11.58	Q
2	Gerhard Scheller	West Germany		R
3	Katsuo Nakatake	Japan		R

1/8 final 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Tsutomu Sakamoto	Japan	11.31	Q
2	Gabriele Sella	Italy		R
3	Franck Dépine	France		R

1/8 final 5

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Philippe Vernet	France	11.33	Q
2	Murray Steele	New Zealand		R
3	Frank Orban	Belgium		R

1/8 final 6

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Nelson Vails	United States	11.05	Q
2	Fredy Schmidtke	West Germany		R
3	Mark Barry	Great Britain		R

Third repêchage semifinals

Third repechage semifinal 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Gerhard Scheller	West Germany		Q
2	Claudio Iannone	Argentina
3	Murray Steele	New Zealand

Third repechage semifinal 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Lee Fu-hsiang	Chinese Taipei	11.67	Q
2	Katsuo Nakatake	Japan
3	Mark Barry	Great Britain

Third repechage semifinal 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Gabriele Sella	Italy	11.58	Q
2	Frank Orban	Belgium
3	Alex Ongaro	Canada

Third repechage semifinal 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Fredy Schmidtke	West Germany	11.45	Q
2	Franck Dépine	France
3	Vincenzo Ceci	Italy

Third repêchage finals

Third repechage final 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Gerhard Scheller	West Germany	11.52	Q
2	Gabriele Sella	Italy

Third repechage final 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m	Notes
1	Fredy Schmidtke	West Germany	10.96	Q
2	Lee Fu-hsiang	Chinese Taipei

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1	Mark Gorski	United States	11.65	11.08	—	Q
2	Gerhard Scheller	West Germany			—	C

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1	Philippe Vernet	France	11.56	11.17	—	Q
2	Fredy Schmidtke	West Germany			—	C

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1	Nelson Vails	United States	11.33	12.07	—	Q
2	Marcelo Alexandre	Argentina			—	C

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1	Tsutomu Sakamoto	Japan	11.20		11.26	Q
2	Kenrick Tucker	Australia		11.51		C

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1	Mark Gorski	United States	11.17	10.74	—	Q
2	Tsutomu Sakamoto	Japan			—	B

Semifinal 2

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Notes
1	Nelson Vails	United States	10.93	10.86	—	Q
2	Philippe Vernet	France			—	B

Finals

Classification 5–8

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time 200 m
5	Gerhard Scheller	West Germany	11.36
6	Marcelo Alexandre	Argentina
7	Kenrick Tucker	Australia
8	Fredy Schmidtke	West Germany

Bronze medal match

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3
	Tsutomu Sakamoto	Japan	11.06	11.03	—
4	Philippe Vernet	France			—

Final

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3
	Mark Gorski	United States	10.49	10.95	—
	Nelson Vails	United States			—

References

1. "Cycling at the 1984 Summer Games: Men's Sprint". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
2. Bowen, Bob. "Nelson Vails | USBHOF". Retrieved 1 August 2021.
3. "Sprint, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
4. Official Report, vol. 3, p. 376.