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I’m sure there will be a ton of posts with Olympic News over the next day or two, so I’ll post all of the articles I find in this thread.
First, Georgia Gould, currently of Fort Collins, took home the bronze medal in the women’s race: the first MTB medal for the US since the olympic debut of mountain biking back in 1996!
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20120 … ck_check=1
Even then, the 32-year-old didn’t look like she believed she was the one who broke a 16-year U.S. medal drought in the event.“Oh my gosh,” Gould said afterward, the bronze medal around her neck. “I can’t even describe it. I’m still a little bit in shock, I think.”
For whatever post-race protocol she wasn’t sure of, Gould knew every corner of the roughly 3-mile circuit course at Hadleigh Farm.
Riders made six loops on the technical course, which was studded with obstacles, including The Rock Garden, switchback-filled Snake Hill and a narrow area called The Rabbit Hole.
Second, Todd Wells has the best men’s Olympic MTB showing ever, taking 10th place:
http://www.newsday.com/sports/blogs/wes … -1.3899602
Sam Schultz in his Olympic debut took a very respectable 15th.
Men’s medalists:
Kulhavy edged Switzerland’s Nino Schurter by one second to win the race in dramatic fashion. Marco Aurelio Fontana of Italy took the bronze.Women’s medalists:
Gould completed the race in 1 hour, 32 minutes. She was just six seconds behind Sabine Spitz of Germany, who was second in 1:31.54. France’s Julie Bresset won the gold medal in 1:30.52. -
According to CTV, Emily Batty of Oshawa, Ontario will be competing in today’s women’s mountain biking race with a broken collarbone.
Batty apparently broke her collarbone while training on Tuesday. Batty finished in eighth place at the 2011 Women’s World Mountain Biking Championships in Champery, Switzerland, but made national headlines in March when she finished in second place at a World Cup race in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
http://www.examiner.com/article/batty-t … on-injured
(Image from cyclingdirt.org’s facebook page post-race)Ouch, that is one hardcore chick! Would have liked to see what she could do uninjured!
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Sam Schultz from Missoula, Montana had a great 15th place finish for his Olympic debut. Check out a post-race interview video here: http://www.cyclingdirt.org/coverage/249 … mpic-Games
Edit: Post-race interview with Georgia Gould:
http://www.cyclingdirt.org/coverage/249 … onze-Medal
Post-race interview with Todd Wells:
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Julien Absalon, returning Olympic MTB champion with two consecutive gold medals to his name, withdrew from the race in the second lap because of a flat in the first:
"A mechanical fault, that’s the worst thing. I think my tire progressively deflated. At the start I felt one of my tires was a bit low pressured but I thought it was in my head."It was not and Absalon was forced to change his wheel, losing ground on a trio of leaders, lagging 54 seconds behind at the end of the first lap.
"I lost motivation. It was not worth it because any chance of a medal was gone," said Absalon.
Read more here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/ … AZ20120812
So what is the deal with this guy? Sure, he was 54 seconds back at the end of the first lap, but you’re just going to quit an Olympic Mountain Bike Race because your chances of medalling are pretty much gone? Man up and finish what you started! Mechanicals happen–it’s mountain biking. If there were no mechanical issues, it would be called "running."
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Geoff Kabush, of Canada, took 8th in the Olympic MTB race:
Sometimes an eighth-place finish is a cracking good result, as the British commentators might say.Such was the case on a hot Hadleigh Farm mountain course on Sunday, where Geoff Kabush’s solid eighth was the best men’s Olympic mountain bike result in Canadian history. Kabush, competing in his third Olympics, topped his previous best Games result, ninth in Sydney, in 2000.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2012 … z23QxsS27l
We featured Kabush in a recent POD here on Singletracks:
http://www.singletracks.com/mountain-bi … php?id=330
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Anyone know where I can watch the race that was televised online? I was doing the Spartan Race and don’t have DVR. 😢
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"Fitch" wrote
Anyone know where I can watch the race that was televised online? I was doing the Spartan Race and don’t have DVR. 😢
Good question, I haven’t gotten to watch either of them. I was going to try to, but couldn’t manage to get the UK proxy to work 😢
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Go here:
http://www.webproxyuk.com/uk-free-http-proxyFollow the instructions to put the proxy info into your preferred web browser.
NOTE: the port number changes frequently.
Once that is in place, go to BBC iPlayer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/tvUnder TV Channels, you can go back to Sat/Sun and make your way to the Olympic MTB videos and play them in their entirety, without commercials.
This [i:7pvd9nu1]should[/i:7pvd9nu1] be the men’s race:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 … 3.1515.35/And the women’s
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 … 2.1514.30/Remember, the port changes frequently, so go look it up right before you get ready to watch it.
Extra Credit:
If your laptop has hdmi out, grab this hdmi cable off amazon and watch it full screen on your hdmi-enabled TV, with sound [i:7pvd9nu1]and[/i:7pvd9nu1] video both coming through the TV. 😃 -
Maybe I was having issues getting the port right…
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Yeah that burned me the first time too. I thought I could set up in advance and just call it as needed.
By the way, if you get ProxyDroid for your android phone or tablet, you can also watch them that way. -
This is one way to watch the men’s race in its entirety. You just have to select your home cable service and login to your online account to be able to watch. Worked for me with AT&T U-Verse.
[url:ht4jn552]http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/cycling/mens-cross-country.html[/url:ht4jn552]
All other cycling, including the women’s mountain bike are listed here: [url:ht4jn552]http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/browse/index.html?menu3#sx=sports&cx=cycling&fx=fullEventsReplays&ox=recent&vx=grid&px=1[/url:ht4jn552]
What I found to be the strangest (yet coolest) part of the men’s race was the Italian, Marco Fontana, who still took third. . . even after his seatpost snapped off mid way through the bell lap! What shoddy seatpost was that??? I also found it disappointing that Absalon, as an Olympic rider, wouldn’t continue after a flat to finish the race. I call weaksauce.
Both were interesting races, props to Gould for pulling off third for the US.
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"djeneration" wrote
This is one way to watch the men’s race in its entirety. You just have to select your home cable service and login to your online account to be able to watch.
some of us don’t have cable.
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"maddslacker" wrote
[quote="djeneration":54kflkaq]This is one way to watch the men’s race in its entirety. You just have to select your home cable service and login to your online account to be able to watch.
some of us don’t have cable.[/quote:54kflkaq]
just offering another option 😄 honestly you may not have to have cable to watch it there, I wasn’t really paying that much attention, just clicked away and logged in and it was good to go.
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Biking Community Rallies Around Missoula Olympian
MISSOULA- The medal stand just wasn’t to be for Missoula’s Sam Schultz at the Olympics, but he held his own and then some against 49th of the worlds best in the Mountain Bike Cross Country event in London. The final day of the games saw Schultz finish 15th overall, 3:22 behind the gold medal winner.The streets around the Wilma Theater in Missoula were crowded with cars and bikes at 6:30 a.m. Sunday, not for a movie, but for Schultz. The Mountain Bike showdown was shown on the Wilma’s big screen and Missoula’s cycling community came out to support one of their own.
There was cheering for Schultz and for many of the others who battled the grueling course, and the turnout wasn’t surprising to those who know Schultz, have followed his career, and biked with him. After all, he is well liked around here.
Read more here: http://www.kpax.com/news/biking-communi … -olympian/
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Aussie mountain bikers plea for funding
Australia’s top cross-country mountain bikers have made the plea to Cycling Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport for funding after their London Olympic performances.Australia’s male representative Dan McConnell finished an encouraging 21st, improving on his 39th at the Beijing Games, and his partner Rebecca Henderson was 25th in her Olympic debut.
Mountain biking is the poor cousin of the high-powered Australian Olympic cycling program.
It is the only discipline in the sport where Australia has not won an Olympic medal.
For the last three years, mountain biking has been outside the AIS because of a funding squeeze.
But McConnell more than halved his world ranking this year on the way to the Games and Henderson finished second in the under-23 World Cup series.
"This year me and Bec have pretty much just done it ourselves and we’ve been able to show that we can get some good results," McConnell said.
"It does show that there is the talent out there and the more help we can get, I think we can move up the nation rankings."
McConnell argues that any significant investment into the mountain bikers would represent good value for money.
Read more here: http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/mo … %20funding
And I thought we had it bad in the US….
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I read something recently about how Olympic training programs are funded in other countries and as I recall, Australia was one of the countries that does a better job with its athletes. In the US there is no government funding for athletes; it all comes from corporate sponsorships and donations. So maybe the Australian mountain bikers just want their piece of the pie? Seems reasonable.
As with most countries that host the Olympics, Australia ramped up athlete funding big time ahead of the 2004 Sydney games and the medal count showed it. Ditto for China in 2008. I guess the point is that funding in Australia has taken a dive but only because funding was artificially high ahead of the 2004 games.
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"jeff" wrote
I read something recently about how Olympic training programs are funded in other countries and as I recall, Australia was one of the countries that does a better job with its athletes. In the US there is no government funding for athletes; it all comes from corporate sponsorships and donations. So maybe the Australian mountain bikers just want their piece of the pie? Seems reasonable.
As with most countries that host the Olympics, Australia ramped up athlete funding big time ahead of the 2004 Sydney games and the medal count showed it. Ditto for China in 2008. I guess the point is that funding in Australia has taken a dive but only because funding was artificially high ahead of the 2004 games.
Huh that I never knew. I did think it was interesting that the US has put up such a poor MTB showing in the Olympics historically. Personally, I chalked it up to the fact that our race scene leaves much to be desired, but the lack of government funding would explain it too.
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Just look at the medalists this year… all Europeans. Not unlike most years.
My take on the MTB event is that it favors countries with a strong ROAD cycling culture. This is partially due to the Olympic courses themselves (XC-oriented, not very technical). It’s interesting to see how the Europeans embrace stuff like skinny MTB tires (2.0 or less), narrow bars, grip shifters, etc. compared to Americans. I don’t know that this was a factor in the race but it just shows how XC riding in Europe is more closely related to road riding cycling it is here.
To me, this exposes the need for a more gravity-oriented Olympic mountain bike event! We want more American medals–and I bet the Canadians could get behind this idea too. 😀
Edit: On the positive side, Todd Wells was top 10 (#10 to be exact) which is a huge improvement over last year’s 28th place finish by Adam Craig. Canada’s Geoff Kabush did even better–8th place compared to 20th in 2008. The North Americans seem to be moving up the ranks slowly but surely!
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"jeff" wrote
Just look at the medalists this year… all Europeans. Not unlike most years.
Except for Georgia Gould
This is partially due to the Olympic courses themselves (XC-oriented, not very technical).I thought the Hadleigh Farm course had some surprisingly technical features, and also some European riders breaking themselves on them. (Great Britain’s Liam Killeen really bit it) None of the Americans had issues with those sections.
To me, this exposes the need for a more gravity-oriented Olympic mountain bike event! We want more American medals–and I bet the Canadians could get behind this idea too. 😀So that the Athertons and Danny Hart can beat us there too? 😆
Edit: On the positive side, Todd Wells was top 10 (#10 to be exact) which is a huge improvement over last year’s 28th place finish by Adam Craig. Canada’s Geoff Kabush did even better–8th place compared to 20th in 2008. The North Americans seem to be moving up the ranks slowly but surely!…and Georgia Gould took BRONZE for USA!!!
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"maddslacker" wroteTo me, this exposes the need for a more gravity-oriented Olympic mountain bike event! We want more American medals–and I bet the Canadians could get behind this idea too. 😀
So that the Athertons and Danny Hart can beat us there too? 😆
Aaron Gwin, from the US, is the reigning DH world champion. Just saying… 😃
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Yeah, my crack analysis didn’t take into account the women’s side. 😀
But… I’m sticking with my theory about the road cycling culture in Europe. In fact, my theory may even explain why the Europeans aren’t as dominant on the women’s side: None of the big cycling races in Europe (Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, etc.) even include women so there’s no comparison.
As for the technical nature of the Hadleigh course, it had a few tech sections but the fact is many of those riders just closed their eyes and hoped they’d come across on the other side (as evidenced by the guys who wrecked). It’s worth the risk if you’re a strong rider… and I doubt a lot of these guys spend much time honing their tech skills. It’s all about speed, speed, speed. And if you can’t ride tech fast, just make up the time on the other parts of the course, cyclocross style.
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I watched the race on BBC and the announcers actually analyzed that aspect pretty well. Specifically they mentioned that Schurter was intentionally getting in the lead through the technical zones so that he could control the pace for those sections since he has less technical skills than several of the other riders. He also got passed twice in that the rock garden section, both times by a rider taking a harder, but shorter line.
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"jeff" wrote
But… I’m sticking with my theory about the road cycling culture in Europe.
So what you’re saying is that we should be sending Levi Leipheimer to represent the US? 😃
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I dunno… the man has won at Leadville.
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@maddslacker, I know we were talking about this, and I know they do this on XC skis, but I didn’t know they thought to combine MTBs:
http://www.canada.com/something+differe … story.html
It sounds like you don’t actually have to ride with the gun, but I’m not certain.
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There’s a place here in CO that does it. You ride a lap on your bike, and then they hand you the gun at the shooting area, then you ride another lap, etc.
I had a schedule conflict last fall, but I want to try it this year.
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"maddslacker" wrote
There’s a place here in CO that does it. You ride a lap on your bike, and then they hand you the gun at the shooting area, then you ride another lap, etc.
I had a schedule conflict last fall, but I want to try it this year.
That would be a good blog post!
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"mtbgreg1" wrote
Julien Absalon, returning Olympic MTB champion with two consecutive gold medals to his name, withdrew from the race in the second lap because of a flat in the first:
"A mechanical fault, that’s the worst thing. I think my tire progressively deflated. At the start I felt one of my tires was a bit low pressured but I thought it was in my head."It was not and Absalon was forced to change his wheel, losing ground on a trio of leaders, lagging 54 seconds behind at the end of the first lap.
"I lost motivation. It was not worth it because any chance of a medal was gone," said Absalon.
Read more here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/ … AZ20120812
So what is the deal with this guy? Sure, he was 54 seconds back at the end of the first lap, but you’re just going to quit an Olympic Mountain Bike Race because your chances of medalling are pretty much gone? Man up and finish what you started! Mechanicals happen–it’s mountain biking. If there were no mechanical issues, it would be called "running."
You’re only as good as your last result.
His is a DNF.
I think that about says it all.
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My quads absolutely burned watching Fontana finish. Very impressive.
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