By LICIA CORBELLA -- Calgary Sun
 On Oct. 9 and 10 in 1980, Gordon Singleton of Niagara Falls, Ont., broke three long-standing world records in cycling in less than 24 hours.

 Had he performed just a portion of that feat three months earlier in Moscow, he would have been the toast of Canada with his photo plastered on the front page of every newspaper in the land.

 Instead, his unprecedented achievement garnered him a few 4-in.-long stories buried way back in the sports pages of Canada's daily newspapers.

 But what makes this story more tragic, if not ironic, is that the conditions in which he broke those three world records make the deed an even greater achievement than if he had accomplished the same thing at the Olympics.

 There was no large crowd on hand to cheer the 24-year-old on and psyche him up. No competitors pushing him.

 No atmosphere. No tension. No hype.

 "This was just another Tuesday at the track," chuckles Singleton, 44, from the Niagara Battery and Tire store in St. Catharines, Ont., one of three shops he owns and runs in the Niagara region.

 "It wasn't even during a competition; it was just a time trial, so that's why I thought it was a pretty good accomplishment," he says, without trying to understate things.

 Canada funded Singleton's trip to Mexico City to take advantage of the equipment and cycling officials who were on site for the world junior cycling championship, which took place just a couple of days after Singleton's time trials.

 First, he set the world record in the flying start 200-metre distance with a time of 10.58 seconds, beating the previous amateur world record of 10.61 set in 1967 by Omar Phakadze of the Soviet Union and the best professional clocking of 10.80 set by A. Mastes of Italy in 1960.

 About one hour later, he set the world record for the flying start 500-metre distance with a time of 27.31 seconds -- knocking a whopping half-second from the previous world amateur record of 27.85 set in 1967 by Pierre Trentin of France, and almost a full second from the professional standard of 28.16 set in 1979 by Heinz Isler of Switzerland.

 The next morning, Singleton was back at the track and decimated the world record in the one-kilometre standing start by almost one second, with a time of 1:03.82 minutes. The previous amateur world record in the one-kilometre standing start was 1:04.49 set by Nils Sorborg of Denmark in 1973. The professional mark was 1:07.30, set in 1972 by Patrick Sercu of Belgium.

 Singleton says back then he favoured the U.S.-led boycott to protest the U.S.S.R.'s invasion of Afghanistan. Twenty years later, however, he has backpedaled on that view.

 "When the boycott was first announced, I went public -- because the media was asking all of the different athletes at the time what they thought -- and I said: 'If the boycott was going to make a difference, then I'm all for it.'

 "It's only now through wisdom that I realize my sacrifice was in vain and that there is no room for politics in sports. But at the time, that's what I said and what I truly believed."

 Singleton says his coaches vehemently opposed the boycott and disagreed with Singleton's position.

 "My coaches, who had been to many, many Olympic Games both as athletes and coaches, said: 'Politics and sports shouldn't be mixed.'

 "I remember them telling me that. I still felt the way I felt, but now I believe them."

 Despite regrets at the loss of Olympic glory and potentially lucrative endorsement deals, Singleton says he has only fond memories of his competing years.

 This past Aug. 27 -- the 18th anniversary of Singleton winning the world championship -- also coincides with the birthday of his coach, Eddie Soens.

 "I phone his widow in England every year on his birthday and this year we reminisced about a lot of things and I said: 'I'm just so glad I met these people, I'm so fortunate to have had the experiences that I had, so I don't regret one minute of the effort and sacrifice I put into the sport.

 "Unfortunately, I didn't gain monetarily out of it, but money couldn't buy the kinds of things I've experienced, no way.

 "I wouldn't trade it for anything. If I was 18 again, I would do it all over again, even if I knew the boycott was coming.

 "But it's kind of frustrating knowing your sacrifice was in vain," laments Singleton.

 However, International Olympic Committee vice-president Dick Pound, who was president of the Canadian Olympic Association 20 years ago, says, ironically, some good has come of the "stupidity" of the Moscow boycott.

 "The boycott led, first of all, to the election of (Juan Antonio) Samaranch as the IOC's president," explains Pound from his Montreal home. "The 1976 African boycott would have been avoided altogether under Samaranch, and the Moscow boycott might not have been as pervasive."

 But that's not all. Pound believes that the boycott induced the IOC to unite with all of the independent Olympic committees around the world to form a formidable, financially independent organization with much clout on the world stage.

 "The Moscow boycott did start to pave the way for some very positive change that has strengthened the Olympic movement. Moscow was ground zero. That's when the IOC became proactive."

  For Singleton, however, the biggest drawback about the boycott was that it will forever leave him guessing.

  "There will always be this big question mark in my life," he says wistfully.

  "It just kind of hangs there."