My only comments are that invariably some great riders won’t be at the Olympics.. the US women being a case in point, that the fields are ridiculously small when you think of just the field for the 100 metres ..let alone all track and field..and ‘shooting’ etc, that MVDP could win gold ( maybe this is the year he actually prepares properly IDK) which as a huge MVDP fan I would love but part timers like Matthieu and Pidders are cheating to some extent riders who give everything to make XCO a spectacle every season by contributing - in reality, very little. I guess I’d say that you had to do a minimum of World Cup races- 6- maybe 8 in each of the 2 seasons prior to the Olympics .
Thanks for the breakdown, very helpful. Do I read it right that host France will have 3 athletes in each field, whereas all other countries will have 2 or 1 (or zero, of course)?
Presumably it was the UCI’s call to limit the field to 36. Do we know why? I get not having the Nove Mesto 5x field sizes, but Worlds were 2-3x the size last year, and that seems like a comparable event.
France is guaranteed one spot for women and one for men. However, they should get 2 spots since they are in the top 8. The two "universality place" selections are set aside "to give a fair and equal opportunity for the best athletes in the world to participate in the Olympic Games, as well as to ensure universal representation."
Totally agree and equally confused why there are so few spots overall - especially since the Olympics only happen every four years. Maybe our sport isn’t paying enough bribe money to the IOC (a little sarcasm perhaps but they don’t have a good track record for integrity).
My only comments are that invariably some great riders won’t be at the Olympics.. the US women being a case in point, that the fields are ridiculously small when you think of just the field for the 100 metres ..let alone all track and field..and ‘shooting’ etc, that MVDP could win gold ( maybe this is the year he actually prepares properly IDK) which as a huge MVDP fan I would love but part timers like Matthieu and Pidders are cheating to some extent riders who give everything to make XCO a spectacle every season by contributing - in reality, very little. I guess I’d say that you had to do a minimum of World Cup races- 6- maybe 8 in each of the 2 seasons prior to the Olympics .
It’ll be a fun watch to see which American women make it. Hopefully no sticks in spokes moments.
Thanks for the breakdown, very helpful. Do I read it right that host France will have 3 athletes in each field, whereas all other countries will have 2 or 1 (or zero, of course)?
Presumably it was the UCI’s call to limit the field to 36. Do we know why? I get not having the Nove Mesto 5x field sizes, but Worlds were 2-3x the size last year, and that seems like a comparable event.
France is guaranteed one spot for women and one for men. However, they should get 2 spots since they are in the top 8. The two "universality place" selections are set aside "to give a fair and equal opportunity for the best athletes in the world to participate in the Olympic Games, as well as to ensure universal representation."
Totally agree and equally confused why there are so few spots overall - especially since the Olympics only happen every four years. Maybe our sport isn’t paying enough bribe money to the IOC (a little sarcasm perhaps but they don’t have a good track record for integrity).