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Bid to give cycle heroes freedom of city

Chris Jones
5/ 9/2008

THE CYCLING heroes from Sportcity's goldmine look set to be given the freedom on Manchester.

Team GB cyclists netted seven gold, three silver and two bronze medals on the track at this year's Beijing Olympics - the biggest ever medal haul for a single country at the velodrome in Olympic history.

And to honour their incredible efforts, Manchester City Council are bidding to give every member of the team the freedom of the city.

This will include the cyclists, paralympians currently competing at the velodrome in Beijing and the back-up team that supported our record-breaking athletes.

The cyclists, who are based at Sportcity's state-of-the-art Velodrome, were part of Britian's most successful olympic team for more than a century.

It is understood the recommendation was suggested at a meeting of the leading Labour party group on Tuesday evening.

It will now be presented at a forthcoming council meeting for councillors to rule on.

The same Labour group meeting also suggested handing Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton with the same honour.

The proposal's backers say it is 'only right to recognise those who have brought so much praise on the city'.

If the move goes ahead, Sir Bobby and the Olympic cycling team will join illustrious name such as 'Mr Manchester' Tony Wilson, Sir Alex Ferguson, the crew of the HMS Manchester and astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell, who have all been given the honour.

Anyone granted the city’s freedom has their names etched on a roll of honour in the town hall.