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Latest update:
08/06/2009 18:17 +0300
Mountain
Bike:
ATHLETICS |
BASKETBALL |
BEACH
VOLLEYBALL|
GYMNASTICS |
JUDO |
MOUNTAIN BIKE
SAILING |
SHOOTING |
SWIMMING |
TABLE TENNIS
| TENNIS |
VOLLEYBALL
 Bicycles were first
developed in 1817 and have long since been used as a form of
transport. Originally, the front wheel was much larger than
the rear wheel, and the rider was elevated a great deal,
making them difficult to control and very dangerous. In
1885, J.K. Starley of England devised the more modern bike
with a chain and gearing to allow the wheels to be of equal
size. Although bicycle races had been held on the old "penny
farthings", the new bikes stimulated the growth of bicycle
racing as a sport.
Cycling at the Olympics
features four exciting disciplines: Road, Track, Mountain
Biking and bmx, although CYPRUS2009 will only include
the Mountain Bike event.
Mountain biking debuted in
the Games in 1996 at Atlanta. The sport was about 40 years
old then, if you date it back to the university student who
first stripped down his bicycle, converted it and headed for
the hills in 1953. The sport was just 20 years old, though,
if you date it back to the first organised competition
outside San Francisco.
The members of the Velo Club
Mount Tamalpais generally receive the credit for
establishing mountain biking as a sport. They invented the
Repack Downhill race, held regularly between 1976 and 1979
just across the famed Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.
The races attracted riders from near and far, and the media
soon followed. It was a cool sport, a fringe sport, but
1990, it had turned into a truly professional sport,
complete with World Championships.
Cross-country sees the
riders riding over what is usually a very hilly, sometimes
mountainous course, usually on natural terrain. They may
need to manoeuvre over trees, branches, rocks and streams.
Men race between 40 and 50
kilometres, and women cover 30 to 40km. The exact distances
are decided the night before the race, when officials ponder
the weather conditions and aim for an optimum finishing time
of two hours and 15 minutes for the top man, two hours for
the top woman. The course is set so men complete six to
seven laps and women race five to six.
Athletics |
Basketball |
Beach Volleyball
| Gymnastics |
Judo |
Mountain Bike |
Sailing |
Shooting |
Swimming |
Table Tennis
| Tennis |
Volleyball |
