In Mountain Bike, obstacles are part of the competition. The discipline entered the Olympic programme in Atlanta 1996 and, ever since, has been gaining technological progresses and new followers. Dutch Bart Brentjens, first Olympic Mountain Bike champion, talks about the evolution of the discipline that in Rio 2016™ will celebrate 20 years of tough competitions.

In Atlanta 1996, the unpaved track full of steep grades, rocks and trails among other obstacles, still did not include the characteristic tyre tracks of the new discipline that was making its first appearance in the Olympic Games. Mountain Bike started in California, USA, in the 70s when a small group of cyclists looked for more contact with nature when practicing the sport. Two decades later, this exciting Cycling discipline was already practiced all around the world and would enter the Olympic programme.

The dutch cyclist, Bart Brentjens, won a gold medal in 1996 and bronze in 2004 (Photo: Personal archive / Bart Brentjens)

A cyclist from the age of 15, in 1992 Brentjens decided to replace his ordinary bike with the more radical mountain bike model. Four years later, Brentjens already wrote his name in history as the first Olympic champion in the cross-country event.

“Winning a gold medal in the Olympic Games makes you famous not only among sportspeople but all over your home country. So, winning the first Mountain Bike medal makes this victory even more special. Many things evolved since I became an Olympic champion, both regarding the sport itself and the technology used in the bicycles. But, in general, the sport has been gaining wider recognition each day. Today, there are more cyclists of different nationalities as well as more championships taking place around the world” says the athlete who also took bronze in Athens 2004.

Today, Brentjens is still active. He leads the Superior Brentjens Mountain Bike Racing Team that includes athletes of six different nationalities and still competes all around the globe. “I hope to be in Rio in 2016 and to win a medal with one of my team mates. We are training already. The team is progressing very well, we already reached more than 50 podiums in this season”, says Brentjens who has already booked a flight next October to Brazil in order to compete in the Brasil Ride marathon.

With cyclist from six different nationalities, Brentjens team prepares for Rio 2016 Games (Photo: Personal Archive / Bart Brentjens)

Europeans dominate the podium at Games-time

In all five Olympic Games editions that included cross-country events (1996-2012), European countries have dominated the podium in the men’s events, especially France, which took three out of the five gold medals (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008). In the women’s events, cyclist from the old continent also made it to the highest place on the podium in every edition and only the USA and Canada won other medals in the category.

Among the most famous athletes are French Julien Absalon with two gold medals (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008) and German Sabine Spitz that won three medals in consecutive editions of the Games: a bronze, a gold and a silver (in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 respectively).

“I had already won a bronze and a gold and now I have the full collection. So I was really happy with second place”, Spitz celebrated after the race that French Julie Bresset won in London 2012.

Machines with larger tyres for impact absorption

Although three of the four Cycling disciplines have outdoor events, mountain bikes have significant differences when compared with track or even BMX bikes: the tyres are larger, there are front and rear suspensions and they are made of a more resistant material that does not add to the weight of the bicycles, which stays between 8 and 9kg.

More than just speed, the bicycle’s main distinctive feature is impact absorption.