I started cleaning my office, but am surfing instead. Been culling results from the women’s sprint events from the past two Olympics. I know, I’m a geek. But it feeds my brain the cold, hard data it needs to keep all this in check.
It’s funny for me to look back at Athens now. In ‘04, I was so consumed by the redesign of Backpacker magazine, I literally didn’t have time to follow the Games. I read about Lori-Ann Muenzer’s win in VeloNews, and have read just about every interview with Anna Meares.
I’ll never forget USADA dropping in for a visit at work the day my publisher and editor pulled the staff together, imploring us to give the magazine two-hundred percent. It was a great time to be at Backpacker, but I was about as far away from the O-games as it gets.
Maybe that’s why it’s fun to go back and read the Cycling News coverage now, since I actually know who some of the players are:
Women’s Match Sprint at the Athens Olympic Games
200m Qualifying
- 1 Anna Meares (Australia) 11.291 (63.767km/h)
2 Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) 11.364 (63.357km/h)
3 Tamilla Abassova (Russia) 11.364 (63.357km/h)
4 Lori-Ann Muenzer (Canada) 11.380 (63.268km/h)
5 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 11.400 (63.157km/h)
6 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 11.430 (62.992km/h)
7 Svetlana Grankovskaya (Russia) 11.456 (62.849km/h)
8 Daniela Greluis Larreal Chirinos (Venezuela) 11.597 (62.085km/h)
9 Jennie Reed (United States) 11.622 (61.951km/h)
10 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 11.646 (61.823km/h)
11 Katrin Meinke (Germany) 11.655 (61.776km/h)
12 Evgenia Radanova (Bulgaria) 12.457 (57.798km/h)
Athens Olympics | Women 500m Time Trial Final
- 1 Anna Meares (Australia) 33.952 (53.016 km/h)* World Record
2 Yonghua Jiang (China) 34.112
3 Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) 34.167
4 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 34.317
5 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 34.532
6 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 34.626
7 Lori-Ann Muenzer (Canada) 34.628
8 Nancy Contreras Reyes (Mexico) 34.783
9 Svetlana Grankovskaya (Russia) 34.797
10 Sayuri Osuga (Japan) 35.045
11 Katrin Meinke (Germany) 35.088
12 Tamilla Abassova (Russia) 35.147
Women’s Match Sprint at the Sydney Olympic Games
200m Qualifying
- 1 Felicia Ballanger (Fra) 11.262 (63.932 km/h)
2 Oxana Grichina (Rus) 11.439
3 Tanya Dubnicoff (Can) 11.494
4 Michelle Ferris (Aus) 11.512
5 Daniella Larreal (Ven) 11.526
6 Szylvia Szabolsci (Hun) 11.545
7 Iryna Yanovich (Ukr) 11.548
8 Tanya Lindenmuth (USA) 11.649
9 Yan Wang (Chn) 11.650
10 Kathrin Freitag (Ger) 11.792
11 Fiona Ramage (NZl) 11.803
12 Mira Kasslin (Fin) 12.194
Sydney Olympics | Women 500m Time Trial Final
- 1 Felicia Ballanger (Fra) 34.140 (52.724 km/h) OR
2 Michelle Ferris (Aus) 34.696
3 Jiang Cuihua (Chn) 34.768
4 Wang Yan (Chn) 35.013
5 Chris Witty (USA) 35.230
6 Magali Faure Humbert (Fra) 35.266
7 Ulrike Wichelt (Ger) 35.315
8 Catherine Freitag (Ger) 35.473
9 Tanya Dubnicoff (Can) 35.486
10 Iryna Yanovich (Ukr) 35.512
11 Daniella Larreal (Ven) 35.728
12 Szilvia Noemi Szabolcsi (Hun) 35.778
13 Lori-Anne Muenzer (Can) 35.846
14 Lyndelle Higginson (Aus) 35.859
15 Oxana Grichina (Rus) 36.169
16 Fiona Ramage (NZl) 36.536
17 Mira Kasslin (Fin) 37.145
What does this exercise tell me? Well, for one that the fields are deeper and the women are faster. It always gives me confidence to see my personal bests (11.8 and 35.5) on a list like this, even if it is from the 2000 games. It tells me a few more things, but broken down into plain English: I need to get faster, be more consistent race day and learn how to sustain my effort over a years’ time.
I do wish the 500M time trial was still in the Olympic Games. I wonder if the Brits can bring it back in 2012? It’s like taking the 100M dash out of Track and Field! I’ll have to look into that. It was only in the games for two cycles. I realize BMX is exciting, but c’mon. The Kilo and 500M TT’s are a marquee events!
Things to work on . . .
