USA Cycling Announces 2008 U.S. Olympic Team

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BICYCLE MOTOCROSS (BMX)


As the discipline of BMX racing gets set to make its Olympic debut this summer, the U.S. will field a four-person squad which consists of three men and one woman.

Automatic qualifiers on the men’s side include Kyle Bennett (Conroe, Texas) and Mike Day (Santa Clarita, Calif.).

Bennett earned his automatic nomination as the top-ranked athlete in USA Cycling’s 2008 BMX Rankings, while Day won the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials on June 14 to earn his.

Bennett and Day will be joined by Donny Robinson (Napa, Calif.).  Robinson earned a discretionary selection to the men’s BMX squad based on his consistent history of recording top results at the international level. Among Robinson’s performances that factored into his selection were first-place finishes at the 2007 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup in Beijing last August, which also served as the official Olympic Test Event, and the third round of the 2008 series in Copenhagen in May.  Robinson is currently the number-one ranked men’s BMX athlete in the world and leads the overall 2008 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup standings. Most recently, he finished second to Day at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

The sole women’s BMX spot will be filled by Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash.).  Kintner earned an automatic nomination as the top-ranked athlete in USA Cycling’s 2008 BMX Rankings.

MOUNTAIN BIKE


For the discipline of mountain biking, Todd Wells (Durango, Colo.) earned the only men’s automatic nomination, while Adam Craig (Bend, Ore.) was selected as a discretionary nomination to the two-man squad.

Wells automatically qualified by earning the highest cumulative placing in his best three 2008 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup events.  Wells finished sixth at the World Cup in Vallnord, Andorra on May 31 to complement an 11th-place effort in the season opener in Houffalize, Belgium on April 20. He then finished 13th at the most recent contest in Fort William, Scotland on June 7.  Wells’ sixth place finish in Andorra was the best result by a men’s American mountain bike athlete in World Cup competition this year.

As the discretionary selection, Craig was the only other American to record a top-ten finish in a World Cup race this season, placing eighth at the second round in Offenburg, Germany. Additionally, Craig was the only other U.S. rider to place in the top 20 of four World Cups this year, adding a 15th-place finish in Houffalize, and a pair of 16th-place efforts in Andorra and Fort William.

The U.S. women’s mountain bike squad in Beijing will be filled by automatic nominee Georgia Gould (Ketchum, Idaho) and a yet-to-be-announced discretionary selection. Gould earned her automatic nomination as the athlete with the highest cumulative placing in her three best 2008 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup performances.  Gould had a pair of fifth-place finishes in the season’s first and third World Cups respectively in Madrid and Houffalize. Her next best finish was an 11th-place effort at the most recent World Cup in Fort William.

“The cycling team that will represent the United States in August is shaping up to be one of the strongest ones we’ve had in recent history,” said USA Cycling Director of Athletics and Team Leader for the Beijing squad, Pat McDonough. “Based on the enormous strides taken by our athletic programs since the last Games and a consistent record of medal-winning performances at various world championships and World Cups by our athletes, I’m confident American cyclists can claim medal potential across all four Olympic disciplines of competitive cycling in Beijing.”

The remaining three discretionary nominations to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team, which includes two women’s road athletes and one women’s mountain biker, will be announced by July 15.

All nominations are subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee.

2008 Olympic Games
Beijing, China
August 8-24
USA Cycling Nominees:

Men’s Road
1. George Hincapie, 35 (Greenville, S.C.) Road Race
2. Levi Leipheimer, 34 (Santa Rosa, Calif.) Road Race, Time Trial
3. Jason McCartney, 34 (Coralville, Iowa) Road Race
4. Christian Vande Velde, 32 (Boulder, Colo.) Road Race
5. David Zabriskie, 29 (Salt Lake City, Utah) Road Race, Time Trial

Women’s Road
1. Kristin Armstrong, 34 (Boise, Idaho) Road Race, Time Trial
2. T.B.A.
3. T.B.A.

Men’s Track
1. Michael Blatchford, 22 (Cypress, Calif.) Team Sprint, Match Sprint
2. Adam Duvendeck, 26 (Santa Barbara, Calif.) Team Sprint
3. Michael Friedman, 25 (Pittsburgh, Pa.) Madison
4. Bobby Lea, 24 (Mertztown, Pa.) Points Race, Madison
5. Giddeon Massie, 26 (Zionhill, Pa.) Team Sprint
6. Taylor Phinney, 18 (Boulder, Colo.) Individual Pursuit
*The United States also has one start position in the men’s Keirin. The athlete who will contest the Keirin will be announced at a later date.

Women’s Track
1. Sarah Hammer, 24 (Temecula, Calif.) Individual Pursuit
2. Jennie Reed, 30 (Kirkland, Wash.) Match Sprint
*The United States also has one start position in the women’s Points Race. The athlete who will contest the Points Race will be announced at a later date.

Men’s Mountain Bike
1. Adam Craig, 26 (Bend, Ore.) 
2. Todd Wells, 32 (Durango, Colo.)

Women’s Mountain Bike
1. Georgia Gould, 28 (Ketchum, Idaho) 
2. T.B.A.

Men’s Bicycle Motocross (BMX)
1. Kyle Bennett, 28 (Conroe, Texas) 
2. Mike Day, 23 (Santa Clarita, Calif.)
3. Donny Robinson, 25 (Napa, Calif.)

Women’s Bicycle Motocross (BMX)
1. Jill Kintner, 26 (Seattle, Wash.)

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