AS the Australian men's team pursuit cycling team claimed Olympic gold this week, many local residents and sports fans took time to reflect on the same feat being achieved 40 years ago in Los Angeles - with a Wangaratta connection.

Australia's first gold medal at the 1984 Olympics came when Wangaratta cyclist Dean Woods and his teammates defeated the US in the event.

It was not only Australia's first gold at the LA Games, but the first time the nation had won the event - and its first cycling gold since its own home Games in 1956.

In Wangaratta, locals lapped up the feat achieved by Kevin Nichols, Michael Turtur, Michael Grenda, and 18-year-old hometown boy Woods, during an Olympics campaign which also involved another Wangaratta cyclist, Glenn Clarke, competing in the points race.

Woods, who also won Olympic medals at the 1988 Seoul and 1996 Atlanta Games, was inducted to the Sports Australia Hall of Fame in 2000, and his Olympic achievements are commemorated on a sign also recalling those of Olympic medallists Nick Morris and Jamie Hoggan, at the northern entrance to Wangaratta.

The champion cyclist passed away in 2022 after a battle with cancer, and was remembered by the city which celebrated his success as a sportsman, business owner, and most importantly a friend and family man, during his funeral at the Wangaratta Performing Arts and Convention Centre.

This week's gold in the men's team pursuit event, won by Oliver Bleddyn, Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy and Kelland O'Brien, was the first for Australia since 2004 in Athens, when Graeme Brown, Brett Lancaster, Brad McGee and Luke Roberts broke the world record.