Until I look at the results, I'd assume that the US would dominate in mountain biking at the Olympics. Didn't a cast of characters racing down Mt. Tam in Marin County, California, on old bikes launch the modern sport of mountain biking just 30 years ago?
That may be true, but the sport caught fire and spread across the globe so quickly that cyclists from other countries routinely eat our lunch.
That's what happened at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday morning. Two Frenchmen and a Swiss cyclist took all three medals in the men's mountain bike competition; cyclists from Germany, Poland and Russia medaled in women's mountain biking ... more»
All three US cyclists who raced in the men's and women's BMX finals won medals Friday morning at the Beijing Olympics.
Mike Day won silver and Donny Robinson took bronze in the men's finals. Jill Kintner of the Seattle area won the bronze medal in the women's finals.
As promised, the BMX finals produced rough and tumble action on the course. Three women went down in separate crashes as they went for broke in the race, and three men hit the dirt in one collision during the men's race.
This is the first Olympics to host BMX, and the sight of big people catching air as they race little bikes on the hilly course provides a lot of excitement... more»
Update: BMX semifinals and finals delayed until 9 a.m. Friday Beijing time (9 p.m. Thursday EST) due to rainy weather.
The entire US BMX team -- 3 men and 1 woman -- survived the early qualifying rounds and will compete in the upcoming semifinals for this event being seen at the Summer Olympics for the first time ever.
It was touch and go for one of the riders, Kyle Bennett, at left, who collided with a couple of other riders and dislocated his shoulder in last of 3 heats his group raced. He did not finish that heat, but scored well enough in the first 2 heats to advance. Doctors said he was good to go.
Mike Day won his quarterfinal to qualify for the semifinals, and Donny Robinson, like Bennett, finished in the top 4 of his quarterfinal run to qualify.
The lone woman on the US team, Jill Kintner of Seattle, raced in the seeding phase. She's ranked 7th for the upcoming semifinals ... more»
Chris Hoy has been dubbed Scotland's greatest Olympian after his amazing exploits at the Laoshan Velodrome in the Beijing Olympics over the past five days.
The 32-year-old won three gold medals in track cycling, the only Scotsman to ever accomplish that in any Olympic sport and the first athlete from Great Britain to do so since 1908.
Overall, Great Britain totally dominated track cycling at this Olympics. Of 10 golds issued, the Brits won 7, as well as 3 silver and 2 bronze.
Add Great Britain's gold in the women's road race and silver in the women's time trial and that brings the total medal haul from cycling to 8 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze. Not a bad result for 14 cycling contests so far .... more»
Marianne Vos of The Netherlands won the Olympic gold medal in the 100-lap women's points race at the Laoshan Velodrome on Monday.
She took the first of 10 sprints and lapped the field in the 25-kilometer track cycling race.
Bad luck plagued Sarah Hammer of the US, though, as she was caught in a crash caused by another rider. She could not finish the event and later was diagnosed with a broken collar bone... more»
Great Britain set the world and Olympic record in beating Denmark in the men's team pursuit at the Beijing Olympics on Monday.
Bradley Wiggins secured his second gold medal of this Olympics by his team's win. In setting the 3:53 record, the team beat the record it set in the qualifying round on Sunday and nearly caught the team from Denmark, which took gold. New Zealand beat Australia for the gold.
Meanwhile, Jennie Reed did not qualify for the finals in the women's sprint quarterfinals at the Laoshan Velodrome. Reed, who attended Issaquah High School and now lives in Kirkland, Washington, lost to Willy Kanis of the Netherlands ... more»
Great Britain's Rebecca Romero captured the only gold medal offered in the third day of track cycling at the Laoshan Velodrome, left, on Sunday, as other Brits finished near the top in qualifying rounds for qualifiers or finals on Monday.
The men's pursuit team, in fact, set an Olympic and world record in the first round.
For the US, Jennie Reed was the only cyclist to advance on the day. The Kirkland, Washington, resident and Issaquah High School grad will race in the women's sprint quarterfinals on Monday ... more»
The cycling team from Great Britain continues to blow away the competition at the Laoshan Velodome in the Beijing Olympics, following on the heels of successes in women's road cycling.
The Brits medalled in all three contests on Saturday, winning two of them outright. The British won the men's team sprint on Friday as well.
In the second day of competition at the track, Chris Hoy already has multiple gold medals. ... more»
Dreams of Olympic gold medals died in the first rounds of their respective races for US cyclists Taylor Phinney and Sarah Hammer at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday.
Neither track cyclist advanced to the final round of the individual pursuit at the Laoshan Velodrome.
Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain won the gold medal in men's 4000 meter individual pursuit, setting an Olympic record along the way. Hayden Rouston of New Zealand and Steven Burke of Great Britain scored silver and bronze ... more»
US track cyclist Taylor Phinney's dreams for an Olympic gold medal continue as he qualified for the men's individual pursuit and advances to the first round.
Another US cyclist, Sarah Hammer, qualified for the women's individual pursuit and also advances for next round to be held on Saturday.
Phinney, 18, is the son of Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter-Phinney, both Olympic medal holders in cycling. He's been racing track for about a year. ... more»
Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara, right, proved it's possible to medal in both road cycling events at the Beijing Olympics by winning the gold medal in the individual time trial.
The 29-year-old made a dazzling dash to the finish in Saturday's road race to capture the bronze in that event.
Team USA's Levi Leipheimer held off Alberto Contador (his teammate during the regular season) to secure the bronze medal in the 29.4-mile race. Sweden's Gustav Larsson finished 2nd.
The other US cyclist, David Zabriskie, was in fourth place when he crossed the finish line earlier in the time trial, but his placement dropped to 12th as latter riders came in ... more»
Kristin Armstrong won the gold medal in the women's individual time trial last night and became the first US woman ever to win the event at the Olympic Games.
It was the US team's first medal in cycling at the Beijing games.
The 35-year-old cyclist from Boise, Idaho, headed down the platform with a determined look and caught up with the two previous starters by the finish line. That's a four-minute margin.
"This is the most amazing day of my life," Armstrong said after the time trial. She mentioned several times that she credited her coaches for her accomplishment and being able to race with "very light equipment." She rides a Cervelo time trial bike ... more»
Is Swiss time trial specialist Fabian Cancellara on his way to two Olympic medals?
Already the surprise bronze medal winner in Saturday's road race, the 27-year-old is the current World Time Trial Champion. He's a favorite for the gold in the event scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, Beijing time.
Among those who might unwind the plans of this precision Swiss-time-trial piece are Team USA cyclists Levi Leipheimer and David Zabriskie. Tour de France double time-trial-winner Stefan Schumacher of German is certainly a contender, as is Australia's Michael Rogers and Spain's Alberto Contador.
NBC Olympics.com is video streaming the men's time trial beginning at 10:30 p.m. (PT) on Tuesday. To find video, go to NBC Olympic's video stream web page and look for cycling under "Live Now" or scroll down to Search Video by sport for previous competitions. ... more»
The Olympic women's road race all went according to plan for the UK's Nicole Cooke. The team tactics for Sunday's race in Beijing were cooked up a year ago.
Cooke won a three-woman sprint for the gold in a 78-mile road race that was marked by heavy rains.
US cyclists Kristin Armstrong finished in 25th at 43 seconds behind, Amber Neben in 33rd at 53 second back, and Christine Thorburn finished 52nd at 8-minutes-44 behind the winner.
France's Jeannie Longo, the 49-year-old competing in her 7th Olympics, finished in 24th place, 33 seconds behind the winners ... more»
Weather permitting -- that is if the smog in Beijing doesn't get worse -- women cyclists from around the world will compete in the 78-mile Olympic road race on Sunday.
Due to time differences, that event starts at 2 p.m. Beijing time, 2 a.m. Eastern Time and 11 p.m. Pacific Time. NBC has scheduled a live, online video stream.
Three cyclists from the United States will compete among the 66 women cyclists. They are Kristin Armstrong, Amber Neben, and Christine Thorburn... more»
Spain's Samuel Sanchez won the Olympic gold medal in road race on Saturday in a six-man sprint over a hot, humid 152-mile course around Beijing.
The 30-year-old cyclist for Euskaltel-Euskadi during the regular season was helped by a national team that included this year's Giro d'Italia champion Alberto Contador and Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre.
Not that Sanchez didn't pull his own weight. He took his turn pulling apart the peloton on the last lap and a half for Alejandro Valverde, a favorite to win for Spain. But when the attacks started on the final kilometers, Valverde couldn't respond.
US cyclists Levi Leipheimer and Christian Vande Velde finished in 11th and 17th, part of a group that was left behind in the final push to the finish .... more»
The NBC video stream worked flawlessly until about 15 kilometers from the finish, when it started buffering and never came back. I have no idea what happened -- was it a problem on my end or their end? -- but I was not pleased to have watched the road race video-stream off and on for some six hours and have it crap out on me in the final 20 minutes or so.
What an odd sensation to be sitting here as the sun sets Friday evening and watching the Olympic cycling road race on my son's computer as it happens late Saturday morning in China.
The videocast from NBCOlympics.com began at 8 p.m. Pacific Time, so apparently NBC plans to show the 152-mile race from start to finish ... more»
"Grandpa" will be among the five US cyclists competing in the 152-mile Olympic road race that begins Saturday morning in Beijing.
Of course grandpa is 35-year-old George Hincapie, who earned that nickname among his teammates because of his US record five Olympics. Other US men competing in the road race are Levi Leipheimer, Jason McCartney, Christian Vande Velde, and David Zabriskie.
The men's road race will be video streamed live at the NBC Olympics website. Check the TV and Online schedule at NBC for detailed times. It starts at 11 p.m. ET on Friday, 8 p.m. Friday in the Pacific Time Zone... more»
The four US track cyclists who showed up at the Beijing airport wearing protective face masks have issued an apology to the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee.
They're the wrong people to apologize. The International Olympic Committee should be apologizing to all the athletes at these Summer Games for choosing a site with such notoriously bad air quality.
But it is Michael Friedman, Sarah Hammer, Bobby Lea and Jennie Reed who are apologizing. US Olympic Committee chairman Jim Scherr said the four cyclists came forward on their own volition and were not coerced. The apology .... more»
Weather forecasters are calling for rainy weather in Beijing later this week. That may be bad news for the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday, but it could mean cleaner air in advance of the men's road race on Saturday.
Beijing has notoriously bad air quality and many Olympic athletes are expecting the worst, in spite of China's efforts to curb pollution by closing factories in the region and banning half the vehicles from the roads.
Some members of the US cycling team, among them track cyclist Mike Friedman, arrived this week wearing black respiratory masks that covered the nose and mouth. USA Cycling officials said it was an individual choice, not a team policy.
Perhaps their choices are based on the experience of Olympic mountain biker Adam Craig, who competed in the pre-Olympic warm-up games last year. He recalled his experiences to PBS on Monday:
"It's like -- it's a weird bronchial spasm thing that I was getting, that just like -- whenever you tried to take enough breath to give your muscles that fuel of oxygen they need, your bronchioles just start spasming and you just like physically can't do it ... more»
NBC is providing live video-streaming of many major cycling events at the Beijing Olympics on its website once the games begin this weekend. The only drawback is that because of our time difference with Beijing, the live coverage will occur during the wee morning hours.
Because I'm interested in trying to catch some of this action, I've been checking the NBC schedules. I've broken down their coverage in a list below.
In addition to the online coverage, I found that local NBC affiliates will show highlights of the cycling action, along with everything else, during their regular Olympic programming. The USA Network and MSNBC also will broadcast some live and delayed cycling events.
While road race, time trial, many track events and mountain bike races will be streamed online, NBC is saving the BMX races for live and taped coverage on its affiliates. No BMX races will be video-streamed online, as far as I can tell ... more»
US cyclist Levi Leipheimer has been training in Utah and California to prepare for the Olympic bicycle road race and time trial events at the Summer Olympics beginning next weekend in Beijing.
Leipheimer has had plenty of time to stew about the upcoming Olympics as his Astana team was not invited to the Tour de France.
The Santa Rosa, California, resident did some training along the coast to escape the smoke from inland wildfires. He's also been training in Utah, he recently told the RecovoxNews blog. ... more»
Australia's Cadel Evans is recovering enough from his knee injury that he might be able to compete in both the road race and individual time trial at the Beijing Olympics afterall.
But didn't he already withdraw from the time trial, giving Australia's lone time trial slot over to Michael Rogers?
Well, yes. But with Evans on the mend, the UCI has granted Australia a "wild card" offer for a second slot. Evans will compete in the road race next Saturday and the individual time trial on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
The bad luck stories for Australia's Cadel Evans continue to mount up.
Even though he finished in second place overall at the 2008 Tour de France last week, he joined the post-race partying anyway and slipped and fell on a wet floor, injuring his knee.
Evans immediately refuted rumours that he had severely injured his knee and wouldn't be able to compete in the Beijing Olympics that start next weekend. Since then, however, the knee has become swollen and he realized he wouldn't be able to compete at his peak in the individual time trial on Wednesday, Aug. 13 ... more»
Until I look at the results, I'd assume that the US would dominate in mountain biking at the Olympics. Didn't a cast of characters racing down Mt. Tam in Marin County, California, on old bikes launch the modern sport of mountain biking just 30 years ago?
Update: BMX semifinals and finals delayed until 9 a.m. Friday Beijing time (9 p.m. Thursday EST) due to rainy weather.
Chris Hoy has been dubbed Scotland's greatest Olympian after his amazing exploits at the Laoshan Velodrome in the Beijing Olympics over the past five days.
Great Britain's Rebecca Romero captured the only gold medal offered in the third day of track cycling at the Laoshan Velodrome, left, on Sunday, as other Brits finished near the top in qualifying rounds for qualifiers or finals on Monday.
Dreams of Olympic gold medals died in the first rounds of their respective races for US cyclists Taylor Phinney and Sarah Hammer at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday.
US track cyclist Taylor Phinney's dreams for an Olympic gold medal continue as he qualified for the men's individual pursuit and advances to the first round.
Kristin Armstrong won the gold medal in the women's individual time trial last night and became the first US woman ever to win the event at the Olympic Games.
Is Swiss time trial specialist Fabian Cancellara on his way to two Olympic medals?
"Grandpa" will be among the five US cyclists competing in the 152-mile Olympic road race that begins Saturday morning in Beijing.
Weather forecasters are calling for rainy weather in Beijing later this week. That may be bad news for the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday, but it could mean cleaner air in advance of the men's road race on Saturday.
US cyclist Levi Leipheimer has been training in Utah and California to prepare for the Olympic bicycle road race and time trial events at the Summer Olympics beginning next weekend in Beijing.
Norwegian cyclist Thor Hushovd says he's sick and won't be able to represent his country during the 2008 Olympics that starts next weekend in Beijing.
The bad luck stories for Australia's Cadel Evans continue to mount up.
