Norway gives up Olympic women's mountain bike spot

[JA.Tri]

An opportunity to develop a younger rider goes begging.

"...The federation is not interested in having anyone there other than a gold [medal] candidate."

While I think that the country benefiting will be most appreciative, it certainly is a slap in the face to Sveum in particular.


http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/norway-gives-up-olympic-womens-mountain-bike-spot

 

[pmacdermid]

Olympics Kills small sports

Welcome to the club.

New Zealand qualified a spot in the mens but decided to do the same thing.

The problem with the Olympics is that for sports like XCO-MTB it becomes the be-all and devalues world cups and world champs. With limited NO. of places available and countries only sending athletes meeting their stricter criteria than the IOC, it leaves many people in a void and a drop in NO.s.

Just look at female NO.s at world cup races prior to 2008. They were building to 150 in N.Europe races. The No.s have now dropped back to 2004/5 sizes.

The UCI has a lot to sort out in the sport if they want to progress. At the moment it looks like a very amateur distant cousin to road cycling.