USA Cycling & Olympic History

The Amateur Bicycle League of America was organized in 1920 and incorporated in New York in 1921. In 1975, the name was changed to the United States Cycling Federation. In 1995, USA Cycling, Inc. was incorporated in Colorado, and on July 1, 1995, the two corporations merged, with USA Cycling the umbrella corporation.
 
The office of USA Cycling, Inc. remained on the United States Olympic Training Center campus near downtown Colorado Springs until March of 2009. Thanks to the generous support of Nor’wood Development group and the El Pomar Foundation combined with the collective efforts of the City of Colorado Springs and several local organizations including the Colorado Springs Economic Development Corporation and the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation, the national governing body secured office space on the city’s north side. USA Cycling’s new headquarters now consists of a 26,000-square-foot building on nearly two acres of land near I-25 on the northwest side of Colorado Springs.
 
USA Cycling is the official cycling organization recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Cycling Union (UCI), and is responsible for identifying, training, and selecting cyclists to represent the United States in international competition. In addition to preparing elite-level athletes for world-class competition, USA Cycling aims to ensure the ongoing safety and development of the sport in America.
 
The United States has been a major player in the cycling movement since the invention of the bicycle - from the world’s first mountain bike races held in California to Lance Armstrong’s world-renowned performances.
 
Cycling has been a part of the Olympic platform since the beginning of the modern Games in 1896, and the U.S. took its first medal when John Henry Lake finished third in the sprint at the 1900 Paris Games. Four years later, the U.S. team won every medal in all seven events at St. Louis. Eight years later, in Stockholm, the U.S. road cycling team won two bronze medals. That was the final podium appearance for Americans until the comeback performance of 1984.
 
Before World War II, the only sport in the U.S. more popular than cycling was baseball. Cyclists were once the highest paid athletes in the country, and thousands of fans flocked to the races. After a decline in the 50’s and 60’s, the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles saw U.S. riders take nine medals including the first-ever women’s medal awarded to Connie Carpenter (Phinney) for her first place road race finish. Interest in the sport once again took off as a popular American pastime and today is one of the nation’s fastest-growing amateur sports.
 
World-class American performances such as Greg Lemond’s three and Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour de France victories continued to boost the sport in the U.S. throughout the last two decades. However, a struggle to regain the prominence the sport experienced before the emergence of popular pastimes such as basketball and football, and the invention of an American icon, the automobile, continues.
 
In the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, once again on home turf, the U.S. captured three medals. The 1996 Games served as the Olympic debut for American-invented mountain biking, and Susan DeMattei captured the bronze medal in the women’s cross-country event. On the track, Marty Nothstein won a silver medal in the men's match sprint, and Erin Hartwell took the silver in the kilometer time trial. The U.S. also posted eight top ten finishes.
 
At the Sydney Games in 2000, four additional events were added to the Olympic program, increasing the number of cycling medals to 18. Lance Armstrong took the bronze in the men’s time trial, while Mari Holden captured silver in the women’s race against the clock. Marty Nothstein won the quadrennial’s only gold in the men’s sprint on the track.
 
The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing saw the addition of and entirely new discipline of cycling, BMX. Bicycle Moto Cross (BMX) was added to the Games slate in exchange for the time trial events on the track. The American contingent of four athletes did not disappoint in the sport they invented, taking home half of the six possible medals in the sport. Mike Day earned the silver and Donny Robinson the bronze on the men’s side and Jill Kintner the bronze for the women in the first-ever Olympic BMX event. 
 
The 2012 London Olympic Games will bring about another round of changes for the sport of cycling with the restructuring of the track cycling events in the name of gender parity. The men's and women's individual, men's and women's points races and the men's Madison are to disappear in favor of sprints, keirins, team sprints, team pursuits and omniums for both sexes.
 
All-Time Olympic Cycling Results
All-Time U.S. Olympic Team Cycling Rosters
Past U.S. Olympic Medal Winners
Road World Championship Results
Mountain Bike World Championship Results