Tandem Sprint (2,000 metres), Men

The final of this event was delayed until the next day because of darkness. The programme had fallen well behind schedule, and the British team of Johnnie Matthews and Arthur Rushen objected to riding in the twilight. The result was a major upset, as the German team of brothers Bruno and Max Goetze were considered the favorites, and Johnnie Matthews and Arthur Rushen had never raced together on a tandem until 1906. They had not previously won any national championships, and it was only on their return to Athens that they won the National Cycling Union (NCU) tandem title, the only national championship ever won by either of them.

After the Athens Olympics, Matthews and Rushen also set several British records. They both later competed in the tandem event at the 1908 Olympics, but no longer as teammates. Matthews teamed up with the greatest British cyclist of the era, Leon Meredith, and Rushen joined up with John Barnard, who later married Matthews’ sister. In 1908, neither pairing reached the Olympic final.