The British cycling team has been given the ultimate compliment by some of their rivals.
The veiled accusations by competitors from France, Germany and Australia about the incredible Team GB success in Rio can be put down to one thing – jealousy.
I don’t think they’ll really believe that there is any foul play. They’ll just be envious at the well-oiled machine that the British operation has become.
I’ve never known a better collective example of peaking at the right time in sport.
The cyclists and the team leaders have made no secret of the fact that everything is geared towards one week every four years.
World Championships, national championships and anything else are all just glorified build-up events.
If I could pay someone to make sure we could do that in curling it would be the best money I’ve ever spent.
I was lucky enough to get the chance to listen to Chris Hoy in the build-up to the last Olympics and I must admit, I’d love to get the chance to speak with one of the cycling team heads before the next Winter Games.
You could argue that there are less things that can go wrong in cycling than in other sports like ours but, even so, it’s no coincidence that every member of the cycling team medalled at Rio and most of them performed to the maximum of their capabilities.
If I could be sure I’d be at my very best at an Olympics I’d take my chances right now.
The best training methods, the best technology and the best preparations are now so ingrained that even the departure of the man who set the ball rolling, Dave Brailsford, and then the controversy and departure of the head coach, Shane Sutton, haven’t had an impact.
It has become a phenomenal success story.
And, when you look at the younger cyclists who are emerging, it isn’t going to come to an end anytime soon.
This Olympics will ensure the funding keeps coming and the good times keep going.
The other top cycling nations will have to accept that and rise to the challenge.
And moaning about how the Brits are doing won’t get them anywhere.
* We’re nearly at the end of the Games and there’s no denying that the British performance as a team has been incredible.
I thought the medal target of 48 was way too high but I was wrong.
Rio won’t be going down as one of the best Olympics though.
The dark cloud of Russia hasn’t gone away, there was a British athlete held up at gunpoint, the boxing judging has been a farce and the crowds at a lot of the venues have been pretty terrible.
It puts into context how great the London Games were four years ago.
* The start of our own season is looming large.
We’ll be flying out to Canada on September 4.
Our new team member Lauren has settled in well and we’ve had a lot of good quality practice on great ice at Kinross.
We’re all feeling really positive about getting going again, and the thought of the Winter Olympics getting closer is as big a motivation as you can get.