As a fan of road cycling, with a particular interest in the women’s peloton, I was shocked to learn that women’s cycling had not been part of the Olympic Games for a long time. So I thought I’d share some of this rather disappointing story, while shamelessly connecting with the Australian women participating in Paris 2024.
In fact, women’s road cycling was not introduced to the Olympic Games until 1984 in Los Angeles. But men’s road cycling had existed since the very first modern Olympic Games in 1896! But the men’s race was then excluded for 40 years, returning in 1936 in Berlin.
And since then, Australians have won the race twice: Kathy Watt in 1992 in Barcelona and Sara Carrigan in 2004 in Athens. And guess how many times an Australian has won the men’s road race – that’s right – zero.
The women’s individual time trial made its debut at the Games in 1996 in Atlanta and we won our first gold medal in this event last week when the fabulous Grace Brown won gold. The men’s time trial was first introduced in 1912 at the Stockholm Games. Oddly, he disappeared from the program in 1936 and did not reappear until 1996 in Atlanta. Like the road race, it has never been won by an Australian driver.
Track cycling has a love/hate relationship with the Olympics. It was first presented in Athens in 1896 with a men’s individual sprint and since then it has come in and out of the program with different races added and subtracted. And in track cycling, Australian men excelled with numerous medals.
Women were first admitted to the Olympic track program in Barcelona in 1992 with an individual pursuit which is no longer part of the Olympic calendar. Since then, other races have been added and subtracted and I’m sure it will continue to evolve. Anna Meares was our most successful track Olympian.
Mountain biking has a more gender-neutral approach, with women’s and men’s cross-country mountain biking first appearing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and no Australian has yet medaled in this test.
BMX was also introduced more recently and, like mountain biking, is more inclusive than other disciplines.
For Paris 2024, organizers have emphasized gender neutrality with women and men racing on the same time trial course. Additionally, they capped the number of runners in the men’s and women’s road races at 90, which is the first time this has been done. In the past, there was always more to the men’s race. I can’t wait to watch both this weekend.
Parisian organizers also achieved gender equality for the first time at the Olympics, a marked improvement from the first time Paris hosted the Games in 1900, when just 2.2 percent were female. women !
But enough statistics and historical thinking. Let’s focus on the games in progress.
Australian women representing Australia in cycling in all disciplines:
- ROAD: Grace Brown, Ruby Roseman-Gannon, Lauretta Hanson
- TRACK: Kristina Clonan, Georgia Baker, Alexandra Manly, Maeve Plouffe, Sophie Edwards, Chloe Moran
- BMX: Natalya Diehm, Lauren Reynolds, Saya Sakakibara
- MOUNTAIN BIKE: Rebecca Henderson
The individual time trial was run and won by Grace Brown. Rebecca Henderson finished 13thth during his cross-country mountain bike race last weekend. And Natalya Diehm won a bronze medal in the BMX freestyle event.
Tune in to watch the remaining events:
- Women’s road race: Saturday, August 4, from 10 p.m.
- Track cycling events: August 5 to 11
- BMX races: July 30 to August 2