Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima is a Brazilian retired long-distance runner. He was born in Cruzeiro do Oeste, Paraná. While leading the marathon after 35 km at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he was attacked on the course by Irish former priest Cornelius "Neil" Horan. Following the incident, de Lima fell from first to third place, eventually winning the bronze medal. He was later awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for his sportsmanship shown in that race.
Bart Jan-Baptist Marie Brentjens is a Dutch racing cyclist in mountain biking.
The UCI Mountain Bike World Championships are the world championship events for mountain bike racing in the disciplines of cross country, downhill, and four-cross. They are organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of world cycling.
Sport in Belgium plays a prominent role in the society. As of 2010, Belgium counted around 17,000 sport clubs with approximately 1.35 million members, or about 13% of the Belgian population. Popular sports in Belgium are, among others: football, cycling, tennis, table tennis, athletics, swimming, basketball, badminton, judo, hockey, rowing, motocross, auto racing, volleyball, and running. Belgium has organized the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp as well as the 1972 UEFA European Championship and the 2000 UEFA European Championship along with the Netherlands. The Belgium national football team's best result was a 3rd place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and a second place of the 1980 UEFA European Championship. Belgian football clubs have won 3 times the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and twice the UEFA Cup, plus 3 times the UEFA Supercup.
Miguel Martinez is a French road cyclist and cross-country mountain biker, who most recently rode for UCI Continental team Amore & Vita–Prodir. He won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia after having finished in third place in the inaugural event at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He also rode in the 2002 Tour de France, finishing 44th. His brother Yannick, father Mariano and uncle Martin were also professional cyclists. He is also the father of racing cyclist Lenny Martinez.
Luíz Antônio dos Santos was a Brazilian long-distance runner who specialized in the marathon. Born in Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro, he was a World Championships bronze medalist and a 1996 Olympian. He twice won the Chicago Marathon and also won the Fukuoka Marathon.
Liam Killeen, is a British professional mountain biker. He represented England in cross country racing at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 where he came 3rd, and became Commonwealth Champion in 2006. He has won the British Mountain Biking National Champion over five consecutive years; 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. He competed for Great Britain at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics and was chosen as the sole male cross-country rider for the British team for the London Games in 2012.
Maja Martyna Włoszczowska is a Polish mountain biker. She is the 2008 and 2016 Olympic silver medalist in cross-country cycling. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Adrian Jackson is an Australian mountain bike orienteering competitor and World Champion. He has won individual gold medals at the 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2010 World MTB Orienteering Championships.
José Rocha is a Portuguese long-distance runner who competes in track, cross country running and half marathons. He was third at the 2009 European Cup 10000m and was the bronze medallist at the 2011 European Cross Country Championships. He also won a bronze medal at the 2006 Ibero-American Championships. He has a 5000 metres best of 13:47.78 minutes and a 10,000 metres best of 28:15.44 minutes.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is a French multi-discipline bicycle racer, who rides for UCI Mountain Bike team Ineos Grenadiers in cross-country cycling. Ferrand-Prévot has also competed in road bicycle racing and cyclo-cross during her career, winning the world title in each discipline. During the 2015 season, aged just 23, she became the first person ever – in the history of cycling – to simultaneously hold the World road title, World cyclo-cross title and World cross-country mountain bike title.
The 2008 World University Cycling Championship is the 5th Word University Cycling Championship sponsored by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The championship took place in Nijmegen, Netherlands, from 21 to 25 May 2008. Prague and Bangkok were also candidate cities to organize the championship. The NOC*NSF chairman Erica Terpstra opened he World Championships at the opening ceremony on 21 May. Athletes from 25 countries competed in the disciplines mountain bike cross-country, mountain bike marathon, individual time trial and road race. It was the first time in student sports that there was held a World Championship Mountain Biking.
Portugal competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Portuguese athletes had appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games since the nation's debut in 1912.
Jolanda Neff is a Swiss cyclist, who primarily rides in the cross-country cycling and cyclo-cross disciplines, for the Trek Factory Racing team. She won the gold medal in the women's cross-country event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Petra Henzi is a retired Swiss professional mountain biker. Throughout her sporting career, she has won numerous Swiss national championship titles, and more importantly, a total of four prestigious medals in women's cross-country race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. Henzi later represented her nation Switzerland, as a 38-year-old senior, at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and also rode professionally for more than five seasons on Fischer-BMC Team, before retiring from the sport in early 2010.
Roel Paulissen is a Belgian former professional mountain biker. Throughout his sporting career since 1993, he has won more than ten Belgian national championship titles, mounted top-five finishes at both the European and World Cup series, and claimed a total of four medals, including two golds, in men's cross-country race at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. Paulissen also represented his nation Belgium in four editions of the Olympic Games, where he competed in men's mountain biking since it officially became an Olympic sport in 1996. By the start of the 2010 season, Paulissen had been overshadowed by a doping issue after he tested positive for clomiphene that sidelined and effectively ended his mountain biking career. Having lifted a two-year suspension from doping in early 2013, Paulissen came out from his short retirement to join and race professionally for the Italian team Torpado.
Samuel William Gaze is a New Zealand cross-country and road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Alpecin–Deceuninck. He won the under-23 Cross-Country at the 2016 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships and the 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. He also competes on occasion in road racing events, winning the National Criterium Championships in 2017 and 2018.
Peter Pouly is a French former professional cyclist, who competed professionally in road racing and mountain biking for Pishgaman–Giant and the Singha Infinite Cycling Team. He now works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team Roojai Online Insurance.
Rakiya Maraoui Quétier is a Moroccan-born French former long-distance runner who competed mainly in the marathon and cross country running. She competed in the marathon at the World Athletics Championships in 1993 and 2003, and represented France at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She was a three-time participant at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and ran at the 1998 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. She was the marathon gold medallist at the 1989 Jeux de la Francophonie. On the road running circuit, she was the winner of the 1990 Roma-Ostia Half Marathon and 2001 Corrida de Houilles
Sally Bigham is an English professional marathon mountain biker. During her career she won six national championships and 16 races in the UCI MTB Marathon Series. She has been awarded the silver medal twice in the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships. Prior to becoming a professional mountain bike rider in 2010, she was a medical researcher and university lecturer.
