In the hot Georgia summer of 1996, mountain bikers lined up for the first Olympic cross country race. With a well-built course, racers pleased international audiences as they competed in arguably the first extreme sport allowed in the Olympic games. Mountain biking had been established as a sport before the games, though, after Atlanta, the Olympics were the race to watch. With all eyes on the Olympics, other big races like the World Championships could lose value. But-- does Olympic mountain biking really matter?



When some of the fastest mountain bikers are withheld from racing, the race cannot accurately determine the best racers in the world. This is the case at the Olympics. Yes, it only happens every four years, and yes, each athlete represents his or her country of origin, but is the Olympic mountain bike race a clear-cut display of the best fifty mens racers and the best thirty womens racers in the world?

With eight out of the top twenty racers in the World Cup overall coming from Switzerland, it is safe to say some very strong racers won’t be able to go race in London. Todd Wells can go and get 6th at the Olympics, but he might have gotten 9th if the next three fastest Swiss guys were allowed to compete alongside Nino Schurter, Ralph Näf, and Florian Vogel. Even if Wells were to get 5th at the Olympics, he might as well have gotten 30th—only the top three are remembered.

To win a World Cup takes a day, but the honor only lasts until the next race. Winning an Olympic gold takes four years, but is remembered forever. The year before the games, the process of the team selection begins—racers work from the bottom of the results sheet to the top at the World Cups and then stay there for the entire season just to become within the top seven or so to make it onto their countries' Olympic long team. Then, the Olympic year rolls around and the pressure is turned up even higher. Everyone is on form and everyone is trying to build on the success of the previous year. That pressure might be the reason that, if it were possible to send a North American rider to the Swiss National Championships, there is a strong chance that he or she could have come back with nothing higher than a 9th place—statistically speaking.

The Olympic mountain bike race is a race that only has three finishers, a race that the Olympic committee controls that takes place on a course it builds. Whether or not the Olympic mountain bike race matters is debatable—but maybe only those too slow to make the selection raise the question.

As Always,

             Huck Your Meat,

                                      The Dirtbag