Cycling, according to Brian Cookson, the president of British Cycling, is cool. “It is a sport whose time has come,” he said. “It is good for the environment, for sport, for health, the drive against obesity and for the economy.”

British Cycling’s medal spree in Beijing is no flash in the pan, but the legacy of a development programme that began 16 years ago at the Barcelona Olympics.

In 1992 Chris Boardman was coached to success in the men’s individual pursuit by Peter Keen. Boardman is now a technical consultant to Team GB’s multiple medallists while Keen, currently Performance Adviser to UK Sport, masterminded the World Class Performance Plan that has now borne such fruit.

At the time, Boardman’s success was almost resented. He took a scientific approach to racing when most British riders adhered to the old-school tactic of long hours riding in the wind and rain. For most of them, just being there was enough, but Boardman was the first of a new breed of British cyclists.

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The expense of their equipment and the luxury of a level of funding that dwarfs the budgets of their rivals have sparked complaints that Britain has bought its success in a middle-class sport which excludes those without access to the equipment and training facilities. Yet Team GB’s multiple medallists are far from a priviliged elite. These are ordinary champions, ruthlessly vetted by British Cycling’s experts.

Rebecca Romero was brought up by a single mother in a council house in Wallington, Surrey. Bradley Wiggins was only 2 years old when his father walked out on his family. Even those from more conventional backgrounds have made huge sacrifices to achieve their success.

Mark Cavendish, who rode in the Madison race yesterday alongside Wiggins, joined British Cycling’s academy in his teens. “I owe them a lot,” he said.

As a junior with the British Academy, Cavendish lived in accommodation in Manchester. “It was no easy deal. We trained hard, without much to live on,” he said. The Isle of Man-born rider turned his back on a £24,000 salary working in a bank to earn only £2,500 a year as a junior cyclist. Punishment for a lacklustre performance was part of life in British Cycling’s school of hard knocks. “If we didn’t perform we’d be doing three hours around the track in Manchester,” he said.

Ten years earlier British Cycling had been shambolic. When British riders entered international events, a “jobs for the boys” mentality pervaded. Essential equipment would be left at home, while the friend of a friend took a seat in the minibus, instead of much-needed spare bike wheels. By the end of 1996 British Cycling, according to Cookson, was in “meltdown and near bankruptcy”.

“The sea change came with Peter Keen and the World Class Performance Plan,” Cookson said. “It’s now absolutely clear that we don’t select people that are not capable of getting to medal class. We wanted to be the No 1 nation by 2012, but we’ve done it even earlier.”

A series of talent-spotting initiatives by British Cycling have lured athletes such as the Crewe teenager Shanaze Reade, who competes in the women’s BMX events over the next two days, also to race on the track. “We are working with schools, we have talent-spotting schemes, and a programme of events for people who want to get into cycling who are more mature,” Cookson said. “The beauty of cycling is that you can do it any level.”

Four Olympic Games on, the precision and expertise that took Boardman to a lonely Olympic gold has been exhibited by a group of athletes from all sections of British society who have found a place in a performance programme that has now become the envy of the world.

British Cycling can now call on better and more diverse facilities than ever before, including the new National Velodrome in Glasgow, which will be named after triple gold medallist Chris Hoy, the newly opened Redbridge Cycling Centre in East London and the Manchester Velodrome, the crucible of this Olympic success.