Olympics

[jobob]

Here's a good summary from Eurosport of the different disciplines being contested in the cycling category :

http://www.eurosport.co.uk/home/page...to622523.shtml


Cycling at a glance: A short history

Cycling has been an Olympic mainstay since the dawn of the modern Olympic era in 1896. That first Olympic road race -- also in Athens -- traced a relatively short 87 km in comparison to 2004's distance of 239 km for the men's race.

While men have been racing for Olympic gold for over 100 years, the women were only given their first go at the 1984 games in Los Angeles.

1996 was also a boon time in Olympic cycling history with the addition of the time-trial and mountain-bike disciplines for both men and women.

Rules and regulations

For the road and mountain bike events, the rules couldn't be simpler: mass-start races held on tough roundabout circuit courses and won by whoever crosses the line first.

The comprehension of the track events, however, requires a little extra know-how. Here are the general guidelines for the showcase track cycling events:

Time trials: It's all about strength and stamina -- tactics are of no avail in this discipline. The men race for 1,000 meters, the women for 500 meters, the first to pass the finish line wins and advances to the next round.

Sprint: The athletes have to cover three laps in the sprint event, but only the last 200 meters count. On the first two laps, the two opponents jockey through a series of cat-and-mouse tactics, each trying to force the other to launch the final-lap sprint. The rider in second position at the start of the bell lap is considered to have the upper hand, as he/she can then draft -- saving precious energy -- before exploding in the final sprint for the finish.

Individual pursuit: Two riders race at a time, beginning from opposite points on the track. The goal is to catch the other athlete (hence the "pursuit" event name) or at least record the fastest time over a set distance of four kilometres (for men) and three kilometres (for women).

Team pursuit: The race works just like the individual pursuit, but with teams of four taking place. The finishing time for each team is recorded as soon as the third rider crosses the finish line.

Points race: Distance: 40km for men and 25km for women. Points are awarded every ten laps (5 points for 1st position, 3 points for 2nd, 2 points for 3rd, 1 point for 4th, with points doubled in the final sprint). The rider to score the most points during the race wins.

Madison: Named after New York's Madison Square Garden, where the first race of its kind took place. Similar to the points race, points are awarded every 20th lap. Riders compete in teams of two.

Keirin: Originally from Japan, Keirin made its Olympic debut in Sydney in 2000. Two racers each follow a motorbike for 5.5 laps and then compete head-to-head for a remaining 2.5 laps.

Olympic Sprint: Despite its name, this event didn't actually make the Olympics until Sydney in 2000. Two teams of three riders each compete against each other -- much like in a pursuit race. The first team to cross the finish line after three laps wins.

Cycling at the Olympics, Competition dates

Men's Road Race: August 14

Women's Road Race: August 15

Men's Time-Trial: August 18

Women's Time-Trial: August 18

Women's Mountain Bike: August 27

Men's Mountain Bike: August 28

Men's/women's track events: August 20-25


Defending Olympic champions:

Road Race
Men: Jan Ullrich (GER)
Women: Leontien Van Moorsel (NED)

Time-Trial
Men: Viatcheslav Ekimov (RUS)
Women: Leontien Van Moorsel (NED)

Mountain Bike
Men: Miguel Martinez (FRA)
Women: Paola Pezzo (ITA)

Track
Sprint - Men: Marty Nothstein (USA)
Sprint - Women: Felicia Ballanger (FRA)

Individual Pursuit - Men: Robert Bartko (GER)
Individual Pursuit - Women: Leontien Van Moorsel (NED)

Points Race - Men: Juan Llaneras (ESP)
Points Race - Women: Antonella Bellutti (ITA)

[spazzdog]

Damn Jobob! You impress me... and I thought I was the research queen. Silly me.

Yes, I will parked in front of the boob tube for the next few weeks, starting with Opening Ceremonies. Im' an addict. I can't help myself.

[Biking Chick]

Dang ... I am impressed JoBob ... I've written the times down .. now let's hope I can find the piece of paper before closing ceremonies

Women's soccer starts on Wednesday (August 11th)

Cindy
Ride Like A Girl!

[jobob]

You ladies are very kind , but all I did was copy & paste the article ! I was glad to find a description of the track events because I had no clue what they were about.

So who shall we be rooting for?

I'll start...

For the road race, since I assume the certain loyal deputy yadda yadda yadda will have a fairly, ahem, vocal cheering section, I will be shouting out for the (slightly) lesser-knowns {flinging a 5-pound bag of salt over my shoulder ... um it's the left one, right??}

Go Bobby! (pedalfaster, feel free to join in anytime ) He's found a great team but his contract goes only to the end of the year so a good result would really help matters - I especially hope he kicks some serious butt in the ITT. He's had some tough breaks over the last few years so it would be super if he could shine here. As far as I can figure his main competition in the time trial will be Ullrich (unless he's already hit the Krispy Kremes ), Kloeden, Vinokourov (looking very good right now coming off his injury earlier this season), Cancellara, and, if he's back on form, Tyler - who evidently pulled out of the Classica San Sebastian because his back wasn't fully recovered yet so he's a big question mark.

I'll also be rooting for semi-local boy Levi Leipheimer, his contract with Rabobank also ends this year so I hope he can secure a good contract either staying w. Rabobank or moving on to greener pastures. There's been some talk about him going back to postal/discovery but it's all just talk. Since he's only competing in the road race, presumably all the guys will be working for one leader (George or Tyler?) but Levi had a habbit of going out on breakouts, so maybe he'll have one that actually sticks...?

For the women, I'll be rooting for Dede Barry, who earned the distinction of cycling goddess for life in my book for winning a world cup race a couple of years ago on a lugged steel bike custom made by her father-in-law, how cool is that ? She also took the time to finish her degree before completely devoting herself to racing (another example of a women racer who puts a high priority on education, which I admire).

I'll also be watching out for Nicole Cooke, the phenomenal young British cyclist. She had knee surgery earlier in the year and came back to win the Giro d'Italia Femminile.

On the other end of the spectrum, there's the beyond-phenomenal Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli who won the French road championship this year and will be competing at her 6th Olympics... at the age of 45.

[IronHorse213]

Wow, thanks Jobob! I was just beginning to think "Olympics" and maybe I should look for cycling events dates and times - you did my research for me!

I used to be a real Olypmic-adict, but have cooled on them the past few years. I am looking forward to the cycling events this year - and all your remarks!

later !

[jobob]

The women's road race will be shown live in the US on the USA network on Sunday morning - 5 am on the Pacific coast. Amazing!! The TiVo has been programmed

As for the men's road race, whatever they deign to show of it will be on NBC on Saturday evening, 8 pm in my neck of the woods.

Oh, apparently you folks in Oz will get the men's road race live on the SBS network on Saturday evening your time.

- Jo, warming up the couch

[spazzdog]

Hey grrls!

Here's a link for the Olympic TV coverage (USA/maybe Canada only, sorry to those in other places):

http://www.nbcolympics.com/tvlisting...16/detail.html

Take Jobobs fine list, pick the date and scroll through to find the telecast time and channel.

Plus you can see what time any other events you might be interested in are happening.

spazz (setting up my trainer in a corner with clear line to TV: surely you don't think I'm going outside when there is finally 24 hr Olympic coverage!)

[spazzdog]

USA Women vs Greece.
MSNBC is televising the game live RIGHT NOW (10:50 am ET).

If you have access, tune in!

[ausgirl]

Jobob: I liked what you wrote - its nice to have all the facts like that in the one place.

I just have to add a couple of facts about cycling. The people you listed may be the Olympic champions, but there are some new stars on the scene, so they better watch out - especially Leontien van Moorsel who will probably get beaten by Katie Mactier (Aus) and/or Sarah Ulmer (NZ) in the IP.

Keep an out for the Aus men's team time trial who have been unbeatable in recent years as well as our sprinters who want gold.

In the road races - well Oenone Wood is a good chance as the current World Cup (women's) leader and only a fool would discount a men's road team that includes Robbie McEwen, Stuart O'Grady & Michael Rogers.

And Anna Meares is a favourite for gold in the women's sprint and the 500m TT (she is world champ in that)!!!

PS - I know the stuff i wrote is biased, but it is true and anyway, someone has to show a bit of support for my country.

[jobob]

Thanks, ausgirl, I didn't want to steal all the thunder and I thought surely someone would want to chime in on the Aussies

But since you brought it up , it looks like the AU men's team is very very strong (LOL, no fool I!) and Stuart O'Grady in particular is on most everyone's list of the most likely winners. And Rogers is a definite contender for the ITT, particularly now that he's the world champ - might be a bit of extra motivation from that !

But if I were a betting woman I'd say Vino for the road race w. Ullrich & O'Grady medaling, and Ullrich for the ITT. And Nicole Cooke for the womens RR. But I am very often wrong which is why I never put my money on the line, just my ego

Anyone else want to venture a comment or go out on a limb with a prediction?

Hey AG - call me, babe !

[spazzdog]

Just so's y'all know...

On the NBC Olympic TV scheduling page there's a nifty little "bonus" whereby you can download the TV listings of events to your PC/Palm calendar. It's called Infuser.

I gave it a shot... and thank goodness I have a virus shield and firewall working. Within 5 minutes of download, I got an alert that the program Infuser was trying to access my address book.

Nipped that in the butt and promptly de-installed. Then sent a nasty-gram to both customer service and sales at Infuser.

And yes, I did read all the small print before pressing Agree. None of which mentioned covert diving into my address book.

spazz

[bikeforlife]

WOW Jobob thanks for the info i was going to look all that up. you did it for me thanks again

[Roadrunner]

Thanks for the info Jobob.
Isee the French team have annouced Thomas Voeckler as part of their team. I really reckon he's one to be watched in the future. Did I hear right that George Hincappie was also in the Olympics?



http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olym...ng/3907965.stm

[MightyMitre]

Just watched the Opening ceremony on TV. Looking forward to the games startings - Britains Nicole Cooke, who won the womens Tour of Italy is in with a very good chance.

Can't believe Jeanie Longo is still racing - she's old enough to be Nicole's mother!(45)
Apparently she's been at every Olympics since 1984. She's incredible to still be competetive enough to ride against 20 year olds.! Hats off to her

[massbikebabe]

Jeanne is a stud!

karen
still learning teenspeak