USA Cycling announced seventeen mountain bikers eligible for Olympic Games 2012
USA Cycling’s Vice President of Athletics, Jim Miller, announced a list of 17 mountain bikers who are eligible to represent the United States at the Olympic Games 2012.
Eighth men and nine women have been nominated for the next Olympic Games 2012. USA Cycling will finalise the atheletes on 15 June 2012 and the Mountain Bike events at the Olympics will be held on August 11 and 12, 2012.
Five out of eight cyclists received automatic nominations. 2008 mountain bike Olympian, Todd Wells of Specialized was in seventh spot at the 2011 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and also grabbed the tenth position in the UCI World Cup 2011.
Due to his superb effort throughout the season he secured his automatic nomination.
Stephen Ettinger (BMC Racing), Michael Broderick (Kenda-Seven-NoTubes) and Spencer Paxson (Kona), all received a discretionary nod.
Subaru-Trek Team’s Sam Schultz was also nominated for the Olympic Games. He took the overall third place in USA Cycling’s 2011 Pro Cross Country Tour (Pro XCT) rankings.
Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, who won the 2004 Mountain bike challenge, Jeremiah Bishop and Adam Craig are also among the lot that received automatic nominations.
Nine women were nominated for the mega Mountain Bike competition, namely Katie Compton, Lea Davison, Judy Freeman, Georgia Gould, Heather Irmiger, Mary McConneloug, Krista Park, Willow Rockwell and Chloe Woodruff.
The same formula was applied to the women’s selection, as five cyclists took automatic nominations.
The UCI Mountain Bike World Cups rounds 6 and 7 winner and USA Cycling Pro XCT 2011, Lea Davison, received an automatic nomination.
With a fifth place claim at the UCI World Cup 2011 round 5 and Mountain Bike Olympian Luna Team’s Georgia Gould also qualified for the nomination. After grabbing the 24th spot internationally, Heather Irmiger received the automatic nod as well.
2009 and 2010 bronze medal World Championships winner Willow Rockwell (Trek World Racing), along with the three cyclists, Chloe Woodruff (BMC), Krista Park (Cannondale-No Tubes) and Judy Freeman (Kenda-Felt) were discretionary nominees.
USA Cycling's Vice President said, "USA Cycling would like to congratulate the athletes who have earned nominations to the 2012 Olympic Long Team in these disciplines."
The men’s and women’s Track Cycling roster will be announced on December 15.
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