organisation's situation at the time as "close to bankruptcy, 14,000 members and falling, one Olympic gold in 76 years and not much else to show. It was pretty dire". International dominance In December 1997, British Cycling appointed Peter Keen as its Performance Director, with initial responsibility for £900,000 of funding granted by the UK Sports Council on the basis of a one-year interim World Class Performance Plan. He was chosen ahead of Steve Paulding and Paul Sherwen. Keen immediately outlined the focus of the Plan, emphasising that it would mainly be aimed at targeting track cycling due to the large number of Olympic medals on offer. He spent much of the next year developing an eight-year plan to secure longer-term funding: in January 1999 it was announced that British Cycling had secured lottery funding for six years, with an award of £2.5 million for the first year. Later that year, the GB team sprint squad took the first British sprint medal at a World Championship for 40 years at the Berlin Track Worlds. The first fruits of the programme were harvested at the 2000 Summer Olympics: on the track, Team GB took two bronzes, a silver and a gold medal, the latter of which was taken by Jason Queally in the 1 km time trial. Following the Games, Keen started speaking publicly about what Britain needed to do to become the world number one nation in track cycling. The team backed up their Olympic success at the subsequent 2000 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on home ground in Manchester by winning five medals, including a first world title for Yvonne McGregor in the individual pursuit. From 2001 to the present day, British cycling has greatly improved its standing in world track cycling and is now considered a dominant force in cycling. In 2001, two key members of staff were appointed, with Dave Brailsford becoming Performance Director for the World Class Performance Programme and Heiko Salzwedel joining as National Track Manager. In July 2002 the Talent Team programme was launched, which aimed to discover new riders through working with schools: riders identified through the initiative who have enjoyed success at the highest level include Dani Rowe, Laura Kenny, Peter Kennaugh, Elinor Barker and Lizzie Deignan. After a disappointing performance at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, the squad bounced back at the Track World Championships, where they finished second in the