Thursday 18 August 2016 13:20, UK
Laura Trott has told Great Britain's rivals they were the best track cycling team in Rio because their training programme was specifically geared towards the Olympics.
The 24-year-old's performance in Brazil have seen her become the country's most successful female Olympian and she won her fourth gold medal with victory in the omnium on Tuesday.With Trott's fiancé Jason Kenny taking his personal tally to six golds over three Games and equalling Chris Hoy's total, the Brits have consistently delivered at that level and each member of the team claimed at least one medal.
While five golds were obtained at the World Championships in March, the squad did not dominate in the same way and that has seen riders from rival nations question the upturn in fortunes.
Team Sky's Sir Dave Brailsford has said they should put energy into improving themselves instead while Trott maintains there is a very simple explanation for the success.
She told Sky Sports News HQ: "British Cycling has always been very much an Olympic-based programme. That's what it's always been targeted as.
"For us, it wasn't about going to the London Worlds and taking away all the golds there. It was about coming here and winning as many golds as we could.
"As a team, that's exactly what we did and I think we're very different in the way we are so focused on the Olympics compared to every other country."
With the World Championships taking place in London more than five months ago, there has certainly been ample time for the Brits to make the adjustments required.
For Trott and Kenny in particular, their intense focus has been all the more remarkable given they have had the distraction of trying to will each other on to victory in their respective events too.
A double false start for Kenny in the keirin final only tested Trott's nerves more and she said: "When I'm racing, I'm in control of it and I know exactly what I'm doing.
"When Jason's doing it, I have no idea what he's going to do or when he's going to do it. With the two false starts as well, it sent me into a whole weird kind of nervous wreck.
"When he crossed the line and won as well, I just couldn't stop crying. It was like relief, not just for him but the whole week. It had just gone to plan and it was perfect. It was done and we'd done it."
Kenny's approach to seeing Trott win the omnium was less tense and he added: "Steve Peters always used to say it's not your ability to stay focused but to refocus.
"Between races I kind of let my mind switch off and wander where I want. I know when I get on the start line I'll be focused on the job in hand.
"I could watch Laura's points race as relaxed as possible, although I missed the end because I went to the toilet. I heard the gun go and I thought 'Damn'. It's special, I'm really proud of Laura."
Kenny will undoubtedly have Sir Bradley Wiggins' record of eight Olympic medals - he is just one behind with silver in the 2008 sprint to his credit too - in sight four years from now in Tokyo.
Given Trott is four years younger, she is perhaps as big a candidate in the long run to become the country's most decorated Olympian.
For now, she is happy simply to be the most successful British female and said: "You don't set those targets.
"I obviously wanted to try to retain the two titles I got in London but how I ever thought I was going to match that, I didn't quite know.
"To come here and do it again is honestly incredible. It was never really a target to become the most successful female athlete - it was just a target to win my race.
"I didn't really think about it during the competition and in the omnium, it's such a long, drawn-out couple of days that it was just about focusing on each event and taking it day by day."
