Wendy Houvenaghel fails to make gold medal winning team

Wendy Houvenaghel has missed out on a gold medal after being left out of Great Britain's team pursuit team.

The Upperlands woman was selected along with Dani King, Laura Trott and Jo Rowsell for the three-rider event.

She was the unlucky team member to be left out while the other three set a sixth straight world record in winning the gold medal on Saturday.

Houvenaghel was reported to be upset by her exclusion prior to the final and was seen leaving the track.

The Northern Ireland woman said before the Olympics that she was likely to quit competitive cycling at the end of this season.

After Saturday's final, team-mate Rowsell described Houvenaghel as "a really important member of the team".

"She's been with us on the whole journey and she was part of this team from when it was first in the World Championships in 2008, right from day one with me and Rebecca Romero," said Rowsell.

"She's an integral part and she's been with us here all week.

"She's been a great support so a big thank you to Wendy."

The 37-year-old won silver in the 3km individual pursuit in Beijing in 2008 and was second at last year's World Championships.

The British team clocked three minutes 14.051 seconds to beat the world record time they set in the first round.

The United States took silver, five seconds behind Britain, with Canada edging out Australia in the race for bronze.