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It was nine years ago that a young volunteer working at a World Cup mountain bike race at Mont Ste-Anne, Que., became swept up in the emotion of the riders.
"I was looking at the girls and the feelings they seemed to have at the finish line," Marie-Helene Premont remembered with a smile. "All the effort they gave. That's what I wanted to do." Premont created her own excitement and enthusiasm Friday when she rode to a silver medal in the women's mountain bike race at the Olympics Games.
The winner of the Gold Medal: Julien Absalon from France
The winner of the Silver Medal: Jose Antonio Hermida from Spain
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Bart Brentjens from Netherlands
"Top News Bush Admits Iraq 'Miscalculations' in Times Interview Iraq Rebels Leave Najaf Shrine, Hand in Weapons Investigators Find Explosives in Russia Plane Wreck MORE ATHENS (Reuters) - Danish mountain biker Mette Andersen had to pull out of the women's Olympic cross country race Friday after being attacked by a bee. Anderson was stung on the second lap of the five-lap race and had a bad reaction, the whole of the left side of her chest swelling up."
Read more at Olympics Athlete Felled by Bee Sting
"Gunn-Rita Dahle of Norway captured the gold medal on Friday in the women's mountain bike competition at the Summer Olympics in Athens. Dahle, a winner of five World Cup cross-country events in 2004, covered the five-lap, 19.4 miles in 1 hour, 56:51 minutes. Marie-Helene Premont of Canada was second, 59 seconds behind Dahle. Sabine Spitz of Germany took the bronze."
Read more at Dahle takes Olympic gold in mountain bike
"AUSTRALIAN track cyclists Peter Dawson and Stephen Wooldridge are to receive belated Olympic gold medals. The International Olympic Committee has agreed to give gold medals to the pair, who rode in the heats but missed out on the team which won the final of the 4000m team pursuit on Sunday.
The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) lodged an appeal for the medals and announced today the IOC had heeded its plea. In cycling team events only those who ride in the finals normally get medals, unlike swimming, where heat swimmers in relays are also rewarded. Wooldridge and Dawson were delighted when told of the decision by cycling team high performance manager Michael Flynn."
Read more at The Australian: Aussie cyclists get belated gold [August 27, 2004]
The winner of the Gold Medal: Gunn-Rita Dahle from Norway
The winner of the Silver Medal: Marie-Helene Permont from Canada
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Sabine Spitz from Germany
"Australia confirmed their status as the new force of world cycling after dominating the Athens Olympics with six gold medals, two of them on a memorable closing day's competition at the Velodrome.
Ryan Bayley clinched the sprint-keirin track double and Stuart O'Grady and Graeme Brown teamed for a dynamic victory in the 50km madison to round off Australia's greatest cycling performance at an Olympics.
In Wednesday's other gold medal, Russian Olga Slyusareva broke through for her first Olympic title at the age of 35 in the women's points race."
Read more at Aussies dominate Olympic cycling with six golds
Britain's Bradley Wiggins won his third cycling medal in Athens as he and Rob Hayles claimed a superb bronze medal in an eventful madison race.
Wiggins, who won the individual pursuit and took silver in the team pursuit, became the first Briton since 1964 to win three medals at one Games.
Hayles, who survived a crash with 90 laps to go, made up for missing a medal in a last-lap crash in Sydney in 2000.
Australia's Stuart O'Grady and Graeme Brown took gold and Switzerland silver.
Mary Rand was the last Briton to win three medals - in the long jump, the 4x100m relay and the pentathlon - at the 1964 Olympics in Toyko.
"It is still a bit unbelievable," Wiggins said. "I would have settled for just the first one.
The British public must think I'm an absolute idiot
Rob Hayles
"But I decided to go for three and I wouldn't have done that if I didn't think I had a chance of a medal."
"Perhaps after 10 pints tonight it might start to sink in a bit!"
Wiggins and Hayles, who also won a silver in the team pursuit, made a superb start to the 200-lap race, winning the opening sprint to pick up five points.
But Australia and Germany broke away early on to move a lap ahead of the field.
Wiggins picked up two points in the third sprint and another three on the fifth to leave the British pair in fourth place.
I thought, "Not again!"
Rob Hayles
But they courted disaster when Hayles collided with Dutch rider Robert Slippens with barely half the race gone and crashed to the track.
"The British public must think I'm an absolute idiot," Hayles said.
"But I knew as soon as I went down I was OK and it was just a question of getting my composure back and getting back on the bike."
Hayles bravely did just that but the Ukraine, Spain, New Zealand and Swiss teams all pulled a lap back to leave Britain in seventh place with 30 laps to go.
A lung-bursting charge from Wiggins saw the pair leap into second place as he caught the back of the field on a breakaway to regain the lost lap.
"When we hit them, we hit them hard," Hayles recalled.
The Swiss duo of Franco Marvulli and Bruno Risi won the ninth and penultimate sprint with 20 laps to go to join them in second place.
Britain's medal hopes appeared in jeapordy as O'Grady - with Australia already having secured the gold - appeared to block Hayles and Switzerland hit the front in the final sprint.
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But the 31-year-old - in bronze medal position four years ago before a crash heading into the final lap - kept his nerve to come home third and clinch a medal.
Australia finished with 22 points, with Switzerland scoring 15 and Britain 12.
O'Grady, 31, won his first gold medal in his fourth Olympics, to go with a silver in the team pursuit in 1992 and bronzes in the points race and team pursuit in Atlanta 1996.
It was Brown's second gold medal in Athens after helping Australia to victory in the team pursuit.
Australia also won the first-ever Olympic madison in Sydney, when Brett Aitken and Scott McGrory triumphed
The winner of the Gold Medal: Ryan Bayley from Australia
The winner of the Silver Medal: Jose Escuredo from Spain
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Shane Kelly from Australia
The winner of the Gold Medal: Team from Australia
The winner of the Silver Medal: Team from Switzerland
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Team from United Kingdom (Great Britain)
"Russia's Olga Slyusareva added an Olympic gold medal to her collection of world championships, easily winning the points race Wednesday. The only American in the race, Erin Mirabella of Chula Vista, Calif., was fourth with 9 points - the best finish of her Olympic career.
Mirabella was 10th at the points race in Sydney four years ago, and placed 10th in the individual pursuit competition earlier at the Athens Games.
Slyusareva, the points race bronze medalist in 2000 and winner of four consecutive world titles in the event since, finished with 20 points. Belem Guerrero Mendez of Mexico was second with 14 points and Colombia's Maria Luisa Calle Williams was third with 12 points."
Read more atRussian Wins Women's Points Race
The winner of the Gold Medal: Olga Slyusareva from Russia
The winner of the Silver Medal: Belem Guerrero Mendez from Mexico
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Maria Luisa Calle Williams from Colombia
The winner of the Gold Medal: Ryan Bayley from Australia
The winner of the Silver Medal: Theo Bos from Netherlands
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Rene Wolff from Germany
The winner of the Gold Medal: Lori-Ann Muenzer from Canada
The winner of the Silver Medal: Tamilla Abassova from Russia
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Anna Meares from Australia
The winner of the Gold Medal: Mikhail Ingatyev from Russia
The winner of the Silver Medal: Joan Llaneras from Spain
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Guido Fulst from Germany
CBC Sports: Canada's Muenzer wins cycling gold
Muenzer won 2-0 over Tamilla Abassova of Russia in the finals of the event at the Athens Olympic Velodrome.
In the first race, 38-year-old Muenzer trailed early but overtook Abassova in the final straightaway with an impressive push to take the 1-0 lead.
Edmonton cyclist Lori-Ann Muenzer will race for gold later this morning after eliminating world champion Anna Meares of Australia in the Olympic women's sprint semifinal.
Meares held off a challenge from Muenzer to claim the first race. But Muenzer rallied with wins in the last two races in the best-of-three event. Muenzer took the lead after the first lap and fought off Meares to win race two. The Canadian rider was in control of race three from the outset, cruising to victory.
The winner of the Gold Medal: Team from Australia
The winner of the Silver Medal: Team from United Kingdom (Great Britain)
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Team from Spain
The winner of the Gold Medal: Sarah Ulmer from New Zealand
The winner of the Silver Medal: Katie Mactier from Australia
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel from Netherlands
"Australians Ryan Bayley and Anna Meares have led the charge through the first round of the men's and women's cycling sprint heats at the Athens Olympics.
Bayley, a junk food fanatic who lists deep fried chicken as his favourite meal, clocked 10.177 seconds in his 200-metre burst for the line, just 0.037 seconds ahead of Dutchman Theo Bos.
The fastest qualifiers face the slowest in knock-out races from now until the final on Tuesday."
Read more at Bayley, Meares lead sprint charge - Athens Olympics 2004 - ABC Sport.
"Australia's world champion Anna Meares produced a world record when it counted to stun her rivals and win the women's 500 metres time trial at the Athens Olympics overnight.
The 20-year-old Meares, riding last in the 12-strong field, trumped China's Jiang Yonghua's Olympic record in the previous ride only minutes earlier to claim gold in 33.952 seconds.
Not only did Meares get under that time but she even snatched Jiang's world record of 34:000 in the bargain."
Read more at Meares in 500m time trial gold triumph
American Tyler Hamilton made up for his disappointing Tour de France by surging to victory in the Olympic time trial.
Hamilton was only third after the first checkpoint but moved into the lead after 36km of the 48km course, coming home in 57 minutes and 31.74 seconds.
Read more at Tyler Hamilton wins time trial
"Nicole Cooke could ride in four or more Olympics but the pain of her first will always be with her.
After finishing just outside the medal placings in Sunday’s road race, the Welsh cyclist put herself through another half-hour of sun-baked agony in the time-trial today.
She finished a long way outside the medal placings and it was evident that the effort from Sunday had taken its toll on legs which only returned to competition in June after six months battling a knee injury.
While she came in 19th in the today, her fifth-place finish in the road race was a fine performance, especially for someone just two years into their professional career."
Read more at Cooke Vows to Learn Athens Lesson
"Dede Barry showed the Americans the way to the medal stand Wednesday _ and that was just the start of an unprecedented cycling medal haul.
Tyler Hamilton won the men's time trial gold medal and teammate Bobby Julich took the bronze, hours after Barry won the women's time trial silver Wednesday. No other nation in the Olympics won more than two medals in the four road competitions.
"I believe we are one of the best cycling countries in the world, with Lance Armstrong winning the last six Tour de Frances and great results here today," Hamilton said. "It says a lot about U.S. cycling."
Hamilton edged defending men's time trial gold medalist Viatcheslav Ekimov of Russia by about 19 seconds, taking home the first American road gold since 1984 _ when Alexi Grewal won the road race in Los Angeles."
Read more at U.S. Cycling Captures Three Medals
The winner of the Gold Medal: Tyler Hamilton from United States
The winner of the Silver Medal: Vlatcheslav Ekimvov from Russia
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Bobby Julich from United States
The winner of the Gold Medal: Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel from Netherlands
The winner of the Silver Medal: Deidre Demet-Barray from United States
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Karin Thuerig from Switzerland
"German cyclist Judith Arndt says her finger gesture as she crossed the finish line in Sunday's women's road race was not directed at Australian winner Sara Carrigan, but against the exclusion of her live-in lesbian lover from the Olympic team.
Photographers caught Arndt raising a one-fingered salute after crossing the line behind Carrigan.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) took exception and fined Arndt 200 Swiss francs ($AU224).
The top-ranked German bristled during the post-race press conference over her cycling federation's refusal to nominate her girlfriend, Petra Rossner, for the Olympic road race."
Read more at German cyclist Arndt livid over exclusion of lesbian lover.
"After a disappointing first day of dressage competition, the U.S. Olympic equestrian three-day team pinned its hopes for an individual medal on two top riders competing Monday: John Williams of Middleburg, Va., and Kim Severson of Keene, Va.
Williams, riding Carrick, and Severson, on Winsome Adante, will try to improve on Sunday's dressage debut, which ended with mixed success for the Americans.
Darren Chiacchia of Ocala, Fla, sits fourth on Windfall 2 after scoring 44.6 penalty points.
"I'm very proud of him," Chiacchia said. "There are now two phases to go."
But the other Americans didn't fare so well."
Read more at U.S. Riders Have Disappointing Day
Nicole Cook one of Britaina main Gold medal contenders was pushed into fith in the Womens Road Race
Britain's Nicole Cooke's bid for gold in the women's road race has been scuppered by Sara Carrigan.
The Australian broke clear in the dying minutes to take gold ahead of Germany's Judith Arndt, while Cooke had to make do with fifth place.
Source BBC Cooks gold bid dashed
Nicole Cook one of Britaina main Gold medal contenders was pushed into fith in the Womens Road Race
Britain's Nicole Cooke's bid for gold in the women's road race has been scuppered by Sara Carrigan.
The Australian broke clear in the dying minutes to take gold ahead of Germany's Judith Arndt, while Cooke had to make do with fifth place.
Source BBC Cooks gold bid dashed
Sara Carrigan has just won the Women's Road Race Gold medal in a close race from Silver Medal winner Judith Arndt.
The winner of the Gold Medal: Sara Carrigan from Australia
The winner of the Silver Medal: Judith Arndt from Germany
The winner of the Bronze Medal: Olga Slyusareva from Russia
"An American cycling coach was fined Sunday for giving a bottle of water to a rider outside the approved area during the men's Olympic road race.
Jim Ochowicz, the men's Olympic road coach and the president of USA Cycling, was fined the equivalent of about $162 by the International Cycling Union. No rider was named or fined, officials said.
Temperatures topped 100 degrees on parts of the course Saturday, so race officials allowed team cars to pass water and food to riders over an expanded stretch of the course."
Read more at Cycling Coach Fined for Water Violation
"The Olympic Women's Individual Time Trial is shaping up as a close Cycling encounter between the Olympic champion Leontien ZIJLAARD-van MOORSEL (NED) and Spain's Joanne SOMARRIBA, the 2003 world champion.
Other challengers for Olympic medals include 2003 world championship silver medallist Judith ARNDT (GER) and Zoulfia ZABIROVA (RUS), who took bronze; Karin THUERIG (SUI); and Nicole COOKE (GBR).
The Time Trial will take place on Wednesday, August 18 along a 24 kilometre coastal circuit from Vouliagmeni to Agia Marina."
Read more at Women's Individual Time Trial: Close encounter of the Olympic kind
Olympic cyclist's dad arrested over paint stunt
"The father of a British Olympic cyclist was quizzed by Greek police after daubing her name in white paint on an Athens street.
Anthony Cooke used white spray paint to write his daughter Nicole's name but was spotted by a patrol and taken to a local police station.
He was following a cycling tradition where supporters encourage their favourite riders by writing their names on the road where they will race.
Nicole Cooke, 21, from Swansea, is a world champion and tipped to win Britain's first road-race gold in Athens, reports Sporting Life.
Greek police officers who saw the incident thought it was a case of graffiti by Mr Cooke, who is also Nicole's coach."
Cyclist Nicole Cooke will aim to win Great Britain's first Athens gold with victory in the women's road race.
The 21-year-old bounced back from injury to win the Tour of Italy during the build-up to the Games and will start as one of the favourites.
The women's road race begins at 1300 BST and will pass some of the city's great landmarks on an 8.3 mile lap.
Cooke and her rivals will complete nine laps and are expected to finish at 1630 BST after 75 miles in the saddle.
Read more at Cooke chases gold.
"Australia's Tour de France green jersey winner Robbie McEwen says he felt like his legs had been chopped off as he tried to sprint for the finish in the Olympic road race.
McEwen finished 11th in the 224km race in searing heat around Athens' ancient city when for once his legs couldn't respond in the final sprint.
"In a word, excruciating. Six hours in, I don't know how hot it was, it felt like 50, it was probably only 41," he said.
"It was just a really tough race with that climb 17 times.
"Normally you start to sprint and it's on automatic and you just go.
"I was literally having to push left and right and making my legs go around because when I started to go and tried to sprint it was like someone took an axe and chopped my legs off."
McEwen's teammate Stuart O'Grady called it the hardest one-day race of his life, with the 17 laps featuring a tough climb up the gruelling Lykavittos Hill."
Read more at Axe chopped me down: McEwen
"Stunning imagery was everywhere, from waves of riders speeding along a cobblestone street in the shadow of the Parthenon, fans waving flags from all corners of the globe, Olympic rings as far as the eye could see. Paolo Bettini had the best view of all: No one in front of him.
The gritty Italian swiped the lead from Portugal's Sergio Paulinho in the final 100 meters and won an Olympic road race Saturday that withered much of the field in temperatures that soared to 104 degrees.
Paulinho finished one second back and took the silver for his nation's first-ever Olympic cycling medal; Belgium's Axel Merckx, son of the cycling great Eddy Merckx, was another seven seconds back for bronze.
Bettini's winning time was 5 hours, 41 minutes, 44 seconds over the 139.4-mile course.
"Unless you're a step above everybody else like Bettini was today, it's a little bit like a lottery," said Tyler Hamilton, who finished 18th.
Paulinho, who would have been perhaps the most surprising road gold medalist in Olympic history, led much of the final lap around the 8.2-mile circuit and seemed to take control with a strong pass about a 400 meters from the finish.
Bettini, a former World Cup champion, charged right back and held on for Italy's first road-race gold since Fabio Casartelli won at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
"I thought at some point I would not make it. ... Ultimately, I started truly believing," Bettini said."
Read more at
Italy's Paolo Bettini surges past Portugal's Sergio Paulinho to win men's road bicycle race
"Because of the excruciating heat under an unrelenting sun, Olympic cycling organizers allowed team cars to provide their riders with water during Saturday's road race.
With temperatures reaching 100 degrees on some stretches of the 8.2-mile course, organizers realized that having just one feed zone along the circuit was insufficient, and allowed team cars to give bottles to their riders, too".
"World champion Igor Astarloa of Spain and Dutch veteran Michael Boogerd were among four riders forced to abandon the Olympic road race Saturday after crashing badly on the opening lap.
Astarloa went down together with a small bunch of riders only a few minutes into the twisting, 139.4-mile course that circles 17 times through the narrow streets near the Parthenon and Greek Parliament buildings.
Colombian outsider Marlon Perez and Russia's Vladimir Karpets also were forced out of the race because of the early crash."
Read more at World champion Igor Astarloa of Spain among victims of cycling road-race crash .
"Jan Ullrich will seek to salvage a frustrating season and equal a 76-year-old Olympic record by successfully defending his men's road race title at the Athens Games today.
The in-form Stuart O'Grady lead Australia's charge, which also includes Michael Rogers, Robbie McEwen, Baden Cooke and Matthew White.
The German, a towering figure in the sport for a decade, finished fourth in the Tour de France last month, failing to make the podium for the first time in seven years.
He looked out of sorts in last weekend's San Sebastian classic in Spain, the last major race before the Olympics, and even his T-mobile team coach has questioned his commitment.
But when Ullrich takes to the streets of Athens, in the shadow of the Acropolis, he will have a chance to turn his disappointment into gold.
"The Olympics are something really special for me," he said while training in Crete this week."
Read more at Ullrich has 76-year-old road race record in sights.
"Richard Virenque would be delighted to put an end to a remarkable yet highly controversial career with an Olympic medal. "I have thought about it. It would be a great bonus. And if I took time off after the Tour de France, it was with that idea in mind," the French rider said.
Virenque made it to cycling record books last month by winning a record seventh King of the Mountains jersey on the Tour de France but might still remain in history as the sportsman which made EPO (erythropoietin) famous.
The Frenchman was kicked out of the Tour in 1998 with the rest of his Festina team after it was found EPO was systematically used by Virenque and his teammates."
Read more at Virenque gunning for gold
"Somewhere along the way, Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel lost her sense of balance and almost fell off the edge of her life. You don't get far on a bike without balance. Two women's Tour de France titles and several world titles could not prevent a traumatic decline.
"I just stopped eating properly," she says.
The Dutchwoman's problems, however, probably stemmed from her extraordinary drive for cycling success.
"I was trying to keep my weight down for the mountain stages of the Tour while training as hard as I could," she says.
"And if you don't eat, you die."
That was in the early 1990s. Just 23, she shed a fifth of her body weight to 45 kg.
Her career, and perhaps her life, was to be salvaged by her meeting future husband Michael. He threw the scales out of the house and told her that yes, cycling was important, but that she counted for more."
Read more at Van Moorsel finds life balance
"30 year old Bettini comes into the Olympic road race as one of the hot favourites. The Quick Step man is in scorching form, after winng the GP Citta di Camaiore with a well-timed attack and two second place finishes in consecutive World Cup Saturdays in the HEW-Cyclassics Cup in Hamburg and the San Sebastien Classic. However, evidently his luck looks to be wearing a bit thin in the big races. Nonetheless, 'Il Grillo' spearheads an Italian team united in one aim; to get him gold. With hardened riders like Cristian Moreni and Daniele Nardello, who can last the distance as well as the climbs, Bettini will have an expert team at his disposal. Moreni, Pozzato or Paolini (his personal domestique at Quick Step) could offer a good lead-out too, if it comes down to that. Still, Bettini is an aggressive rider and it may be that he will make the winning move. There is no doubting his excellent form and condition; now he 'just' has to convert it into victory."
Read more at Olympic Contenders - Men's Road Race.
"Less than a month after the conclusion of the Tour de France, many of that event's top performers will compete Saturday in the Olympic road race.
The biggest star of all, however, will not be among them.
Six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will skip these Games, but his American United Postal Service teammates George Hincapie and Bobby Julich will take part in Saturday's race.
Hincapie hopes to improve on his eighth-place finish in Sydney four years ago.
My goal here is to win a medal, he said. But it will be difficult. There are a lot of favorites."
Read more at Tour De France Riders Go for Olympic Gold
"This year has been a welcome renaissance for O'Grady. After performing well early on in the year, he went to the Tour and took a stage victory in the pouring rain as part of the yellow-jersey producing break. The next day, after a crash wiped out some of his sprint rivals under the flamme rouge, he put on the green jersey and vyed for it all the way to Paris. He showed he's not afraid to attack and can last some climbs, although his form is evidently peaking after he outsprinted Paolo Bettini for HEW-Cyclassics victory recently. He should be a real challenger in a sprint. Teammates McEwen and Cooke are just as fast as 'Stuey', but it looks doubtful that they can survive the energy-sapping climbs the Athens course has to offer."
Read more at Olympic Contenders - Men's Road Race
"After his disastrous crash in the Tour of Switzerland, which resulted in T-Mobile having to pin their hopes squarely on Jan Ullrich's shoulders, Vino could yet make the injury a blessing rather than a curse. After recovering from his injury, the Kazakh trained hungrily whilst Armstrong smote his rivals in the mountains of the Tour. He showed his excellent form by taking out two stages of the Regio Tour and the overall - yet one of the stages saw him rocket out of the bunch on the flat, with the sprinters snapping at his heels, for victory. The Regio Tour also suggests he may have a helper who can keep up, as talented Andrei Kasheckhin showed his prowess with third overall.
Vinokourov is most feared for his deadly accelerations. As well as having an aggressive, unpredictable instinct, his speed in the attack is phenomenal, making it so difficult for rivals to take his wheel. Not only that, but he is no slouch in the sprint either. Blonde-haired Vinokourov will dearly be looking to avenge missing the Tour by taking victory here, going one step further from the silver he got in Sydney."
Read more at Olympic Contenders - Men's Road Race
"Valverde is one of the most precious talents in cycling, and a big-money move to an ambitious Pro Tour team is imminent in 2005, after sticking loyally by Kelme. Undeterred by the team's Division II status, he has made a habit of seemingly trying to win every Spanish rac