These are the official results of the men's team pursuit at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport ev ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, held on 19 to 21 October 1968. There were 85 participants from 20 nations.

Competition format

The team pursuit competition consisted of a qualifying round and a 3-round knockout tournament, including a bronze medal race. Each race, in both the qualifying round and the knock-out rounds, consisted of two teams of 4 cyclists each starting from opposite sides of the track. The teams raced for 4,000 metres, attempting to finish with the fastest time (measured by the third rider) and, if possible, catch the other team. For the qualifying round, the eight fastest times overall (regardless of whether the team finished first or second in its heat, though any team that was overtaken was eliminated) earned advancement to the knockout rounds. In the knockout rounds, the winner of each heat advanced to the next round. Teams could change members between rounds.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 627.

Results

Qualifying round

Taiwan (heat 1) and Congo-Kinshasa (heat 2) had teams entered but did not compete.

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Quarterfinal 2

Quarterfinal 3

Quarterfinal 4

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Finals

Bronze medal match

Final

West Germany led throughout. At one point, Kissner's hand appeared to touch teammate Henrichs. East Germany (Henrichs was a defector) protested, resulting in West Germany's disqualification. It was initially announced that Italy and the Soviet Union would move up to silver and bronze medals, respectively, but West Germany protested and the judges determined that Italy would retain bronze and the Soviet Union would be in fourth place; however, the silver medal place was at least temporarily vacant. A decision of the FIAC later awarded West Germany the silver medals.

Final classification

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cycling At The 1968 Summer Olympics - Men's Team Pursuit Cycling at the 1968 Summer Olympics Cycling at the Summer Olympics – Men's team pursuit Track cycling at the 1968 Summer Olympics