Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling sports include artistic cycling, cycle polo, freestyle BMX, mountain bike trials, hardcourt bike polo and cycleball. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is the world governing body for cycling and international competitive cycling events. The International Human Powered Vehicle Association is the governing body for human-powered vehicles that imposes far fewer restrictions on their design than does the UCI. The UltraMarathon Cycling Association is the governing body for many ultra-distance cycling races.
Mountain bike racing is the competitive cycle sport discipline of mountain biking held on off-road terrain. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the discipline relatively late in 1990, when it sanctioned the world championships in Durango, Colorado. The first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series took place in 1988. Its nine-race circuit covered two continents—Europe and North America—and was sponsored by Grundig. Cross-country racing was the only World Cup sport at this time. In 1993, a six-event downhill World Cup was introduced. In 1996, cross-country mountain biking events were added to the Olympic Games. In 2006, cross-country mountain biking events became part of the World Deaf Cycling Championships for the first time in San Francisco, USA.
The men's cross-country mountain biking at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place at the Laoshan Mountain Bike Course on August 23, 2008.
The women's cross-country mountain biking at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place at the Laoshan Mountain Bike Course on August 23, 2008.
The cycling competitions at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place at five venues between 28 July and 12 August. The venues were the London Velopark for track cycling and BMX, and Hadleigh Farm, in Essex, for mountain biking. The road races took place over a course starting and ending in The Mall in central London and heading out into Surrey, while the time trials started and finished at Hampton Court Palace in Richmond upon Thames. Eighteen events were contested and around 500 athletes participated.
The men's cross-country cycling event at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place at Hadleigh Farm on 12 August.
The women's cross-country cycling event at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place at Hadleigh Farm on 11 August.
The cycling competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro were held at four venues scheduled to host eighteen events between 6 August and 21 August.
The cycling competitions of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo featured 22 events in five disciplines. The 2020 Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The women's cross-country cycling event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place at the Mountain Bike Centre on 20 August.
Tereza Huříková is a Czech professional road cyclist and mountain biker. Throughout her sporting career, she has won numerous Czech national championship titles in women's cross-country, road races and time trial, and more importantly, a prestigious gold medal in the junior time trial at the 2004 UCI World Championships. Huříková later represented the Czech Republic, as a 20-year-old junior, at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and also rode for USC Chirio Forno d'Asolo and Česká Spořitelna MTB Cycling Teams since she turned professional in 2006. Currently, Huříková trains and races under an exclusive, two-year sponsorship contract for Germany's Central Haibike Pro Team, along with her teammate and 2008 Olympic champion Sabine Spitz.
Nathalie Jessica Schneitter is a Swiss professional mountain biker. Throughout her sporting career, she has won numerous Swiss national championship titles, and more importantly, a gold medal in the under-23 category at the 2008 European Mountain Bike Championships. Schneitter also handed an opportunity to represent her nation Switzerland at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and later rode professionally for more than five seasons on an exclusive sponsorship contract with the Colnago Team.
Klaus Nielsen is a Danish professional mountain biker. He has won four Danish national championship titles in both men's cross-country and marathon races, and also represented his nation Denmark, as a 28-year-old senior, at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Nielsen currently trains and races professionally for Germany's Team ALB-Gold Mountain Bike Team.
Thomas Pidcock is a British cyclist who currently competes in the cyclo-cross, mountain bike and road bicycle racing disciplines of the sport for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers.
Kathleen Lynch is a retired competitive cyclist from New Zealand who competed both on and off the road. With a talent for multiple sports disciplines, she won the canoeing events New Zealand White Water Downriver and Slalom Championships in 1987 and represented her country at the 1988 Canoe Slalom World Cup. Around the same time, she was also a successful triathlete, but did not continue with that sport. She bought her first mountain bike in 1988 at the age of 31 in order to compete in an adventure sport event, and within a year she had become the New Zealand national cross country champion. Around the same time, she also took up road cycling. She was included in the New Zealand team for the 1990 Commonwealth Games and was assigned as domestique for the top New Zealand road rider, Madonna Harris. Harris and Lynch finished in fourth and ninth places respectively. In September 1990, Lynch competed at the inaugural UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and finished tenth. In November 1990, she became a household name in New Zealand by winning a 22-day multi-sport race the length of the country that had prime time TV coverage every night.
The men's cross-country mountain biking event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 26 July 2021 at the Izu MTB Course, Izu, Shizuoka. 38 cyclists from 29 nations competed.
The women's cross-country mountain biking event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 27 July 2021 at the Izu MTB Course, Izu, Shizuoka. 38 cyclists from 29 nations were expected to compete, but only 37 did. The race ended in all three medals won by Swiss athletes, the first medal sweep in Olympic cycling history.
The cycling competitions of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris occurred at four different venues, from 27 July to 11 August, featuring twenty-two events across five disciplines.
This article details the qualifying phase for cycling at the 2024 Summer Olympics. A total of 514 cyclists, with an equal distribution between men and women, competed in twenty-two medal events across five disciplines at these Games.
The men's cross-country mountain biking event at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place at Colline d'Élancourt which is the highest point in the Paris region. 36 cyclists from 28 nations competed. The gold medal was awarded to the defending 2020 Olympic champion Tom Pidcock.
