Cycling at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games:

German Jens Fiedler was the defending champion, but was not favored, having failed to medal at the World Championships since 1992, although he had won the German championship every year since then. The world titles had been spread among four different cyclists since 1992 – Michael Hübner (GER) in 1992, 1992 Olympic silver medalist Gary Neiwand (AUS) in 1993, Marty Nothstein (USA) in 1994, and Australian Darryn Hill in 1995. The bronze medalist from 1992, Curt Harnett (CAN), was also back but like Fiedler, had had few podium finishes since 1992. Neiwand led the qualifiers over Harnett and Nothstein. They made the semi-finals, joined by Fiedler. There Jens Fiedler found his old form and defeated Neiwand in two straight races, as he had in the 1992 Olympic final. Nothstein defeated Harnett in the other semi, also in straights. In the first race of the final, only the photo-finish could separate the riders, the victory going to Fiedler by one centimeter. Fiedler’s second race victory was also very close, as he defended his gold medal. Harnett repeated his bronze medal, winning two straight from Neiwand in the bronze medal match.