There were only 13 days between the end of the Tour and the men’s road race event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This short space of time could be an advantage for riders who finished the Tour healthy and free of injury. It meant they would still be in good form when the Olympics rolled around.
But for Cadel the 13-day gap looked like a disaster. His nightclub injury was quickly diagnosed as a very serious one. Cadel’s team immediately swung into action. Doctors and physiotherapists started treating him. Even the medical staff at the Geelong Football Club got in touch. Footballers commonly have knee injuries, and the football team’s medical staff were experienced treating them. Since Cadel was a huge Geelong fan, the club wanted to help. The Australian Olympic selectors nervously waited on the results of Cadel’s treatment.
Still not knowing if he would be fit to compete, Cadel went to the Australian Olympic training base in Varese, Italy. The Australian road cycling squad included Michael Rogers, Stuart O’Grady, Matthew Lloyd and Simon Gerrans. Cadel had ridden alongside Matthew Lloyd before. The other squad members were all athletes Cadel was used to competing against, some just days earlier in the Tour.
The situation at the training base was stressful, especially since no-one knew who’d end up actually going to Beijing. The selectors and Australia’s Olympic cycling coach Shayne Bannan wanted Cadel to ride in the road race event. This would only be possible if his injury improved significantly. Another squad member, Adam Hansen, was on stand-by in case Cadel couldn’t compete. Cadel knew the wait would be agonising for the younger athlete.
It looked like Australia would only have one spot in the men’s time trial event. With Cadel injured, Michael Rogers would probably be selected. Rogers had come fourth in the event at the 2004 Athens Olympics and was a three-time world time trial champion.
Cadel is not an athlete to let injury stand in the way of competing. Perhaps it was the love of racing he’d first discovered as a teenage mountain biker that pushed him to get fit for the Olympics in just a few days. However it happened, Cadel’s fitness began to improve and kept on improving. He was selected for the men’s road race.
Then Australia was unexpectedly handed a wildcard entry to the men’s time trial event. This meant that two Australian cyclists could compete in the event, so Michael Rogers and Cadel were both selected.
Cadel was going to Beijing. He had to get used to the idea quickly. Being an Olympic athlete was a huge honour, but there were challenges too. For a start, Cadel didn’t know any of the Australian Olympic Team’s staff members. He had to adapt to a mechanic he’d never met before working on his bike. Then there was the strange feeling of having someone he didn’t know massaging his legs after training. Switching from his role as Silence–Lotto’s GC rider to an Australian squad member was a huge mental shift to make in just a few days.
On top of that, racing in China presented some unique problems. The first was Beijing’s terrible air quality. Coaches and athletes in endurance events like the marathon and the road cycling feared the choking pollution would drastically affect performances.
For Cadel, the second issue with China was its politics. While racing in the Liège–Bastogne–Liège event earlier in the year, Cadel made international headlines just by unzipping his jersey. Under his racing jersey he was wearing an undershirt printed with the words ‘Free Tibet’.
Cadel recognises the Chinese occupation of Tibet is a complex situation, but feels questions should be asked about it. The formerly independent country of Tibet became part of China after Chinese military action in the 1950s. The Chinese believed they were claiming territory that was already theirs. The Tibetan people considered this an occupation.
Calls to ‘free Tibet’ have been ringing out ever since the international community learned about the conditions in Tibet under Chinese rule. In the year of the Beijing Olympics, Cadel was seeking to raise awareness about something he feels strongly about: the plight of the Tibetan people.
Cadel had known about Tibet ever since primary school. He first discovered the country in a book at his primary school library, Tintin in Tibet. Tintin, the boy reporter, had all the qualities Cadel admired. He was brave, just and good. The character quickly became a hero of Cadel’s, and still is today. Tintin’s adventures took him all over the world, including to Tibet. The world in the story fascinated Cadel. He loved the snowy Himalayan mountain range, the monks and even the yeti, the mysterious Tibetan mountain beast.
Cadel also had a negative experience of the Chinese political system as a teenager. At the time Cadel’s mum had a close friend in China. Her friend’s letters were always censored when they arrived from China. Anything critical of China was blacked out. Cadel was shocked that a government would interfere with personal mail.
As an adult, Cadel sponsored a Tibetan child. But he felt he could do more. As an internationally recognised athlete Cadel had an amazing opportunity to bring attention to the situation in Tibet.
After Cadel’s action in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a stern press release. It stated that athletes shouldn’t make similar political statements at the Beijing Olympics.
The IOC’s stance was howled down in the media. The overwhelming opinion was that athletes were people like anyone else and should be able to express their beliefs. In the following days the IOC defended its statement, declaring that the Olympic Games were not the place for political action. Elsewhere, athletes were free to say what they believed in public.
Even so, Cadel noticed a strange atmosphere when he arrived at the Beijing games. He was used to the Tour, where spectators lined the roads. Sometimes the fans were distracting or disruptive to the race, but mostly they were what gave the Tour its incredible atmosphere.
At the Beijing games, spectators for the road race were so carefully managed that even Chiara couldn’t get into the stands to watch Cadel. The crowd was filled with people dressed alike and neon signs told them when to cheer. Cadel understood that every Olympic Games is carefully managed so the host city looks good on television, but in Beijing the entire Games seemed stage managed.
Whatever Cadel’s feelings about China, he put them aside once events began. The men’s road race took place on an extremely hot and humid day. The pollution was so bad that 53 of the 143 cyclists withdrew from the race. The reduced peloton set off from Tiananmen Square, watched over by a massive portrait of famous Chinese leader Mao Zedong. The huge 245-kilometre course snaked through the heart of Beijing and then into the countryside, all the way to the Great Wall of China.
The race route was more spectacular than Australia’s performance. Cadel came 15th and Michael Rogers came sixth. Spanish riders dominated the race and the other competitors weren’t able to keep up. Spaniards Contador and Sastre both rode hard, eventually wearing themselves out before the end. The gold medallist was another Spaniard, Samuel Sanchez.
The men’s time trial was held four days later. World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara was favourite for a gold medal and he blitzed it. He won the event, beating his nearest rival by 33 seconds. Impressively, Cadel managed to finish fifth despite his knee injury.
With his role in the Beijing Games over, Cadel raced in the Giro di Lombardia (Tour of Lombardy). Then it was time to head home to Australia for the summer. On the way, Cadel and Chiara decided to stop off in Nepal. They were keen to visit Tashi, the Tibetan boy they sponsored.
With Cadel and Chiara’s support, Tashi was studying at the Manasarovar Academy in Kathmandu. When Cadel and Chiara arrived at the school, the kids dressed up and performed traditional dances for them. The Beijing Olympics had brought home to Cadel how difficult Chinese politics could be. Finishing the year with Tashi was a positive way to show his support for Tibet.