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Christmas comes early for Olympic cycling gold medallists
Many of the triumphant gold medal-winning cyclists from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games reunited today, 4 December, to receive an early Christmas present from Panasonic, worldwide Olympic Games partner and Team GB sponsor.
This was one of the first opportunities, since touching down on British soil at the end of August, to get the gold medallists together and reward them for the hard work that kept the UK glued to their televisions for two weeks and the successes that lifted the nation’s spirits.
The Team GB cyclists were the second group of Olympic gold medallists to receive their gift from Panasonic. Victoria Pendleton (Individual Sprint), Rebecca Romero (Individual Pursuit), Jamie Staff (Men's Team Sprint), Ed Clancy (Men's Team Pursuit) and Jason Kenny (Men's Team Sprint) all took time out from training to receive a 32” Panasonic Viera television with HD Freesat built in and a Blu-ray player enabling them to replay their magic moments from Beijing.
Double Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins (Team Pursuit & Individual Pursuit) received two 32” Panasonic Viera television’s and Blu-ray players and triple Olympic gold medallist Chris Hoy (Men's Team Sprint, Kierin, Individual Sprint) opted to swap his three televisions for a 50” Panasonic Plasma TV for his new flat in Manchester and a 37” Panasonic LCD TV for his parents back in Scotland.
Since their achievements in Beijing many of the cyclists have returned to the track and have continued to dominate the sport. At the UCI Track Cycling World Cup 2008 last month Victoria Pendleton, Ed Clancy, Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff all added to their Beijing medal haul.
A number of awards nominations have also ensued since Beijing and the strength of the team is evident by the fact that four of the cyclists, including Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and Rebecca Romero who were present today, have made the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year shortlist. The team is also a strong contender in the ‘Team of the Year’ category which will be decided on 14 December.
Keith Evans, Managing Director of Panasonic UK said: “Panasonic is proud to present each of the gold medal winners with a latest edition high definition TV and Blu-ray player in recognition of the hard work and their fantastic achievements in Beijing. This summer, Team GB put the ‘great’ back into Great Britain and I hope that the athletes will enjoy reliving their Olympic moments on the high definition Panasonic TV for many years to come.
