The men's team pursuit event in cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics consisted of matches between two teams of four cyclists. The teams started at opposite ends of the track. They had 16 laps (4 kilometres) in which to catch the other cyclist. If neither was caught before one had gone 16 laps, the times for the distance (based on the third rider of the team to cross the line) were used to determine the victor. The Australia-Great Britain rivalry continued in an event which saw a new world record.[1]
For the qualifying round, teams did not face each other. Instead, they raced the 4000 metres by themselves. The top eight times qualified for the first competition round, with the other two teams receiving a rank based on their time in this round.
In the first round of match competition, teams were seeded into matches based on their times from the qualifying round. The fastest team faced the eighth-fastest, the second-fastest faced the third, and so forth. Winners advanced to the finals while losers in each match received a final ranking based on their time in the round.
Teams were again re-seeded, this time based on their times in the match round. The third- and fourth-fastest teams faced off in the bronze medal match, while the fastest two teams competed for the gold and silver medals.
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