Craig MacLean MBE (

Grantown-on-Spey Grantown-on-Spey () is a town in the Highland Council Area, Counties of Scotland, historically within the county of Moray. It is located on a low plateau at Freuchie beside the river Spey at the northern edge of the Cairngorms, Cairngorm mounta ...

, July 31, 1971) is a Scottish track cyclist who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

in Sydney and the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens, winning a silver medal in the Team Sprint at the 2000 Olympics. MacLean returned to the sport as a sighted guide in the Paralympics, piloting

Neil Fachie Neil Michael Fachie (born 12 March 1984) is a Scottish cyclist and former track athlete, competing in events for people with a visual impairment. Fachie has competed in two Paralympics, as a sprinter in the 2008 Summer Paralympics, 2008 Games i ...

to two gold medals in the 2011 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, and Anthony Kappes to a gold medal in the 2012 Paralympic Games. MacLean is only the second athlete, after Hungarian fencer Pál Szekeres, ever to win medals at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. MacLean has also won medals in five

UCI Track World Championships The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling. They are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Before 1900, they were administered by the UCI ...

in the team Sprint, Silver in 1999, Silver in 2000, Bronze in 2001, Gold in 2002, Bronze in 2003, and Bronze in 2004. MacLean also won a bronze medal for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the Team sprint at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

, followed by a gold medal in the event at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

in Australia. As a sighted guide to

he won a further two gold medals at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

in, and for, his native Scotland. In the Commonwealth Games, certain para-cycling events are integrated as full medal events into the program. He was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to cycling.

Career

Born in

, MacLean kicked off his cycling career as second man in the Great Britain Team Sprint until switching to lead man in 2002. He broke the GB kilometre record at the Olympic Trials in 2004. MacLean's career as a member of the British elite team came to a close in 2008. He suffered from a mystery illness ( later diagnosed as Coeliac disease) for the majority of his career so could no longer perform at the level required. This, coupled with the form of rising stars like

Jason Kenny Sir Jason Francis Kenny (born 23 March 1988) is a British former track cyclist, specialising in the individual and team sprints. Kenny is the winner of most Olympic gold medals (7) and medals (9) by a British athlete. Kenny's seven Olympic ...

and resurgence of fellow veteran Jamie Staff, meant that he narrowly missed out on the squad for the World Championships and Olympic games. MacLean declared that the Manchester round of the World Cup Classics in November 2008 was his last ride as a UCI accredited rider. In the World Cup round he competed in the Keirin and Sprint for the Plowman Craven Trade team. He won his Keirin heat but was relegated by the officials. In the sprint he qualified in the top 5 but lost in the first round after a controversial move by his German opponent. He sat out international competition for two years from 2008 to 2010, the mandatory requirement to become a pilot for para-cycling tandem racing. At the 2011 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, MacLean piloted

to golds in the Tandem B Sprint and Tandem B 1000m Time Trial. In 2012, he switched to piloting Anthony Kappes, with Barney Storey piloting Fachie; the move was a success for both tandems, as each tandem team won a gold medal at the 2012 Paralympic Games. In doing so, MacLean became only the second athlete to win medals at both Olympic and Paralympic Games. While sitting out international competition, he continued to make some racing appearances at the Revolution events in Manchester. He appeared at Revolution 22 in December 2008, competing in the Sprint and Keirin events. MacLean reunited with Neil Fachie for the

in Glasgow, where the pairing won gold in the kilo time trial. They followed this up with another gold in the sprint where they came back from losing their first ride in the final to beat the Australian duo of Kieran Modra and Jason Niblett 2–1.

Television and media

In 2007 MacLean had an experimental documentary made about him called ''Standing Start'' made by BAFTA winner Adrian McDowall and Finlay Pretsell. The film documents MacLean in his build up to the World Cup team sprint win in 2007. The film has screened worldwide and premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. In November 2008 Craig took up the challenge of becoming a

Bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobslei ...

competitor for the BBC programme 'Bobsleigh Challenge', which was broadcast in February 2009. This programme challenged Craig and fellow British sportsmen

Jason Gardener Jason Carl Gardener, (born 18 September 1975) is a retired British sprint athlete. A fast starter from the blocks, he won an Olympic gold medal leading off Great Britain in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2004 Olympic Games, and is also the ...

, Dean Macey and

Dan Luger Daniel Darko Luger MBE (born 11 January 1975) is a former English rugby union international who was a member of the squad that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Rugby career Club career Dan Luger was born in Chiswick and is the son of a Croa ...

to qualify for the British Championships in Italy, with only 10 days training. Craig teamed up with Luger as one team, while Macey and Gardener made up the other team. After training the teams had to complete two runs down the course without crashing to qualify. After a number of crashes, when both Craig and Dan were driving, both did qualify. However a number further crashes and injuries sustained by Craig meant that they did not complete two runs in the actual competition and were not classified. Just qualifying for the event with only 10 days training was still a remarkable achievement. The other team of Macey and Gardener went one better and finished 6th overall in the competition, ahead of one of the Great Britain Olympic Development teams. Craig is featured alongside Chris Hoy in a book by Richard Moore, ''Heroes, Villains and Velodromes: Chris Hoy and Britain's Track Cycling Revolution''. This describes how Maclean and Hoy were key figures in the rise of British Track Cycling. The book was published in June 2008 by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

. () In 2009, he was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.

Major results

;1999 :2nd Team sprint, Track World Championships ;2000 :2nd Team Sprint,

:2nd Team sprint, Track World Championships ;2001 :3rd Team sprint, Track World Championships ;2002 :1st Team sprint, Track World Championships :3rd Team sprint,

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

;2003 :3rd Team sprint, Track World Championships :1st Kilo,

British National Track Championships The British National Track Championships are a Track cycling event held annually and organised by the national governing body for track cycling (and other forms of cycling) in Great Britain, British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federat ...

:1st Team sprint,

;2004 :3rd Team sprint, Track World Championships :2nd Team sprint, Round 1, Moscow, 2004 Track World Cup :1st Kilo, Round 3, Manchester, 2004 Track World Cup :1st Team sprint, Round 3, Manchester, 2004 Track World Cup :1st Sprint, Round 4, Sydney, 2004 Track World Cup :1st Team sprint, Round 4, Sydney, 2004 Track World Cup ;2005 :1st Team sprint, Round 3, Manchester, 2004–2005 Track World Cup :2nd Sprint, Round 1, Moscow, 2006–2007 Track World Cup :2nd Team sprint, Round 1, Moscow, 2006–2007 Track World Cup :1st Team sprint, Round 2, Manchester, 2006–2007 Track World Cup :1st Sprint,

;2006 :1st Team sprint,

:2nd Sprint, Track World Championships :2nd Team sprint, Track World Championships :1st Sprint, Round 1, Sydney, 2006–2007 Track World Cup :1st Team sprint, Round 1, Sydney, 2006–2007 Track World Cup :3rd Sprint, Round 2, Moscow, 2006–2007 Track World Cup :1st Team sprint, Round 2, Moscow, 2006–2007 Track World Cup :1st Sprint,

:1st Team sprint,

;2007 :2nd Masters of Sprint :1st Team sprint, Round 4, Manchester, 2006–2007 Track World Cup

References

External links

Career

Television and media

Major results

See also

References

External links