Rio de Janeiro: Separate, despite being intrinsically part of, an unforgettable silver medal effort, Olympic rules excluded the fifth member of Australia's track cycling team pursuit squad from medal presentations.
After riding in Friday's semi-finals, Callum Scotson helped put his squad in a ride off-for gold against a quartet from Great Britain that set two new world records over 4000m on their way to another title.
![Pursuit: Alexander Edmondson, Michael Hepburn, Callum Scotson and Sam Welsford compete in the first round.](/web/20160815111630im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/r/s/d/8/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqrrht.png/1471094887003.jpg)
But the 20-year-old Olympic debutant was surprised, then visibly disappointed, when told only shortly before the medal ceremony at Rio's velodrome that regulations would deny him a precious glory moment.
Michael Hepburn, Alex Edmondson, Sam Welsford and Jack Bobridge – subbed in for Scotson for the gold medal race – stepped onto a dais to be awarded Australia's first cycling medal at these Games and 50th in Olympics history.
Great Britain's quartet of Bradley Wiggins – now the most decorated British Olympian in history, Owain Doull, Ed Clancy and Steven Burke - boast the new benchmark of 3:50.265 for the discipline. Australia led them until the third last lap, lost the gold medal but set a new national record of 3:51.008.
As they dissected the race for media, congratulating their awesome British opponents with silver consolation prizes around their necks, Scotson stood alongside them but with no booty to show.
Scotson's Australian teammates returned to the presentation platform to conduct a mock ceremony with him included – placing a medal over his head and posing for group photos as a quintet - once formalities were complete.
Asked how he'd taken being replaced by Bobridge after the semi-final pursuit Australia won only narrowly against Denmark, Scotson told Fairfax Media: "I was alright. I thought if I was asked I could have stepped up, but … I knew if all of them were going strong it would be our best team.
"The harder thing was probably when I got told I wouldn't be on the podium and not having a medal straight away. But that's how it is. I think I get one when I get back to the village."
The medal given to him in the mock medal ceremony was actually the one Scotson will keep. The fifth silver medal was passed on to the Australian camp before it left the velodrome.
![Missing: Michael Hepburn, Jack Bobridge, Sam Welsford and Alexander Edmondson of Australia celebrate without Callum Scotson.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160815111630im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/r/s/e/p/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1471062090527.png)
Missing: Michael Hepburn, Jack Bobridge, Sam Welsford and Alexander Edmondson of Australia celebrate without Callum Scotson. Photo: Bryn Lennon
Bobridge, whose average ride in Thursday's qualifying led national track endurance coach Tim Decker to promote Scotson for the semi-final but then exchange the pair again, said it was a shame his younger teammate couldn't be formally recognised.
"I think when you ride five guys to get you a medal it should be everyone that competes. You should be able to stand on the podium together.
"That's the rule so we've got to stand by it…we used five and we know that, everyone knows that. Callum did a fantastic job for us and he'll continue in the next four years to lead Australia. This team is a family. We all know we're just as important as each other.
"Callum's brother, Miles, was the B-reserve here too. He's just as much part of this team as anyone that rode here."
Bobridge acknowledged he'd been off form in racing the day earlier, but said it was as straightforward as that.
"The simple thing was that the coach didn't think I was up to scratch to ride the semis tonight.
"His decision was to sit me out and it might have given me that bit of extra rest in the final to give them what I could in the final.
"We brought five guys here for a reason and we used all five. If we wanted to ride four, we wouldn't have brought a fifth. We took a spot from the road, we were a better medal chance and that's what we've done here these games, we've used all five and I think Tim's done a fantastic job."
Edmondson, 22, said the team's qualifying ride on Thursday was a wake-up call that ultimately inspired a record – even if only in Australian record books – result.
"It was a bit of a throwaway qualifying, so it took a fair bit to pull our heads in," he said.
"It's not quite what we wanted to do, we wanted the gold medal, but we gave it everything we got and just got beaten by a team that was just on a better day than us.
"We went back to the old way of Aussie spirit, go out full gas and try and hold on…we left everything out there and you can't do much more than that."
Welsford said he felt "proud but also a little bit disappointed", however the 20-year-old instantly projected to the next Olympics in 2020.
"I think we'll grow from this experience," he said.
"I think there's a big future for us team pursuiting in the next Tokyo [Olympics] and even in the Comm Games [in 2018]."
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