Joan Llaneras of Spain, Arnand Tournant of France, Juan Esteban Curuchet
of Argentina and Paul Manning of Great Britain all won Olympic medals in their
final international competition.
Llaneras, 39, ended his professional career with a double medal-winning performance. He won the gold medal in the Points
Race on Saturday, 16 August and teamed up with Antonio Tauler (ESP) to snatch silver in the Men's Madison on Tuesday, 19 August.
Llaneras, the four-time Points Race world champion, also won the gold medal in the Men's Points Race at the Sydney
2000 Olympic Games and silver in the Men's Points Race at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
Tournant claimed silver in the three-man Men's Team Sprint against winners Great Britain on Friday, 15 August.
It was the fourth Olympic medal for the 30-year-old Frenchman. He won the gold medal in the Men's Team Sprint in Sydney
and bronze in the Men's Team Sprint in Athens. The burly Frenchman also won silver in Athens in the 1km Time Trial, no longer
an Olympic event.
At 43, Curuchet was the oldest athlete in Cycling Track in Beijing. Curuchet paired up with teammate Walter Fernando Perez
to claim gold in the Men's Madison on Tuesday, 19 August.
A Men's Madison world champion in 2004, Curuchet had never won an Olympic medal before Beijing.
Manning, 33, closed out his career with an elusive gold medal as part of the four-man Great Britain team in the Men's Team
Pursuit.
Manning was a key member of Great Britain's Men's Team Pursuit trio which won three world championships in four years,
but the Olympic gold medal proved a challenge.
The Britain team won bronze in Sydney 2000 and then silver in Athens 2004 before finally setting two new world and Olympic records en route to the gold medal on Monday, 18 August.
