Olympics 2012 track cycling

Nah.

China should have won.

There was no evidence, it was a subjective decision by the commissaire. The Chinese were on the line together and there is no evidence one way or the other, but the commissaire chose to view it negatively... half empty rather than half full.

With Team GB though, Pendleton was definitely in front of Varnish. By a couple of inches sure... but the rules are black and white and Pendleton was in front of Varnish. So the rules apply.

With China that wasn't the case. And as there were no high-speed cameras on the changeover lines benefit of doubt should have been given.

China won Gold for sure. But Team GB did break the rules, and so it's fair for that decision to stand.

Though I feel that Pendleton's sprint final should have been allowed. Leaning back is part of the sport.

You clearly have access to a version of the UCI rules on team sprint that nobody else is party to, care to share it?

I think this is the problem, not the rule, but the way it has been elaborated on by a certain chief comm. I've still yet to see footage of jess and vic breaking the ACTUAL rule on changeovers.
If the picture of the overlap shows the pursuit line, the change was legal. If it shows 15m before the pursuit line (where there's no track markings) then it's foul.

Also as the audience were never shown any replay which bears this out, there's bound to be confusion. With a dropped baton or change outside a zone in a running relay its easy for everyone to see, disappointing but obvious. Runners don't run at 45mph.

The only way you can enforce a rule like this is to have each rider do thier lap from a standing start. Which would make for some messy crashes.