Blog Posts From Active Expert: Bruce Hildenbrand Tagged With olympics

A True Champion

guest — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:33:58 GMT

Kristin Armstrong is in her last week of competitive bike racing at an international level. She's at the World Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland finishing up a career that has had its share of successes. As we have seen with athletes like Brett Favre, sometimes it is hard to retire, but Kristin is calling it quits at the international level and looking to spend as much time as possible back home in Idaho.

Kristin came to cycling from triathlons at the turn of the millenium. It was clear she was strong on the bike, but like most riders crossing over from tri, she needed to learn some bike handling skills to be able to translate her talent to the top level of women's racing. Luckily, Kristin was a quick study. So quick in fact that she earned a spot on the 2004 Athens Olympic Team by winning the US Olympic Trials Road Race, beating Christine Thorburn in a two-up sprint.

In Athens, Kristin had an OK ride in the road race. She was America's top finisher in 8th, but she was a long way from the medal podium. It was in 2005, that Kristin started showing her dominance in the event that would eventually lead to an Olympic gold medal in Beijing. To be sure, Kristin was an excellent stage racers notching wins in top US races as Nature Valley Grand Prix, Tour de Toona and Tour of the Gila.

But, was in the time trials, that Kristin started winning World Championship medals. A bronze in 2005 was followed by gold in 2006 and a silver in 2007. Clearly, Kristin was one of the favorites for the gold in Beijing. Kristin spent a year in serious preparation for the event and it paid off as she dominated the Olympic Time Trial and won the race.

After an Olympic gold medal and a World Championship gold medal Kristin had very little left to prove, which probably factored into her decision to hang up her cleats. But, what makes her a true champion is that in her last time trial at the international level, she took the gold medal at the World Championships by absolutely crushing her competition, winning by almost a minute. That's the way a true champion ends a career, going out on top and leaving no doubts as to who was the best on that day.

Bruce

Coaches Selection

guest — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:57:30 GMT

Unless you live in a cave, you know that 2008 is an Olympic year which means that the US is putting together an Olympic team in a whole hosts of sports. Being an Olympic junkie I sit through lots of TV even before the games begin watching hopefuls try out for the team in their respective sports. This past weekend I watched four hours of gymnastics trials only to learn that at the end of all the hoopla, only two of the six members of the team would be selected based on their scores. The other four athletes would be determined by the two words which strike fear in the heart of all competitors, "coaches selection."

What's up with that? What ever happened to 'you win the trials, you go to the Olympics?'. Heck, in cycling, they aren't even having an Olympic trials. All the selections for the road events are done by coaches selection. Don't get me wrong, there are some pretty good coaches out there and a few are even associated with the Olympics, but I have seen enough backroom politics to have zero faith in the ability for a bunch of people to be able to put their emotions, feelings and ambitions aside to make a fair decision.

A lot of Olympic hopefuls have sacrificed everything to follow their dream. They have little or no money, and have put their careers and education on hold to try and be an Olympian. To leave that decision up to a bunch of coaches with their own agendas is just plain unfair. All Olympic sports should follow the model of USA Track and Field. The formula is simple, finish top-three in the trials and you go. There isn't much wiggle room there. Win and go. Lose and go home.

One of the highlights of the 2006 winter games was when the winner of the men's first ever snow cross skiing event was asked why he switched from half pipe to snow cross, he simply stated, 'no judges'. I am not going to launch into a diatirbe about eliminating "judged" sports from the Olympics, but we can take a huge step in removing one aspect of "judging" by making the Olympic selection totallyobjective. Bring back the trials and make them count. It is the only fair way for all Olympic hopefuls.

Bruce