Olympics: Britain Will Lobby for More Women's Cycling Events at 2012

Great Britain will lobby for more events for women cyclists in the Olympic Games and there are hopes that more races will figure in London in 2012, the performance director Dave Brailsford has said. Brailsford agreed with the views of two of the cycling team's leading performers, Nicole Cooke and Victoria Pendleton, that there is an unhealthy disparity in track cycling between men and women's events.

Currently, the women have three events and the men have seven. On the road and track, Great Britain's women dominated, taking three golds and two silvers in the five events contested. "If you look at the split between male and female medals it's more out of synch than any other sport," said Brailsford. "It really does need addressing."

"If you look at someone like Victoria Pendleton, there's only one medal available for her which seems a bit unfair." Brailsford has high hopes that there may be movement in the next few years. "It should change for London hopefully. I know the guys who run the whole program and we are in constant dialog not only about the whole program, track, World Cup, development of the sport at grass roots level."

There are those who argue that the quality in depth in women's racing does not make it worth adding events, but Brailsford does not agree. "You could argue that the quality of the female field drops off exponentially, or you could argue that the quantity of medals available would increase the quality of the field. If you have only one place available to women sprinters it's not going to encourage world class sprinters into the sport."

The performance director identified another issue which he felt should be addressed by the men who run the sport: rider quotas at the Games. Great Britain found itself having to give back one place – in the women's sprint – because only three women are permitted in track cycling per nation, and a difficult choice had to be made between a second sprinter, Anna Blyth, and a second pursuiter, Wendy Houvenaghel, after GB women won the world championships in both events. Houvenagel got the nod and responded with a fine silver medal, but Blyth might have got a long way in the women's sprint tournament.

It is not possible for a sprinter to ride the women's points race, as the events clash because the sprint is held over three days as is the pursuit. Similarly, the GB endurance coach Matt Parker said he feels it is becoming increasingly difficult for men to double up between the pursuits and the Madison, as evidenced by Bradley Wiggins' struggle on day five at the track. The solution for Great Britain in future may be to bring a specialist who could ride both the points race and the Madison.