These are the results of the women's cross-country event in cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics. The pre-race favourite, Norway's Gunn-Rita Dahle, dominated the race throughout, despite a fall that damaged the gears on her bicycle. The reigning world champion Sabine Spitz overtook Alison Sydor late in the race to claim bronze, behind Marie-Hélène Prémont. The winner of the gold medal at the previous two Olympics, Paola Pezzo of Italy, did not finish. The race consisted of 1 start loop and 5 full loop, a total of 31.3 km. It was held at 11:00 on 27 August 2004.
The Central African Republic competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. This marked sixth appearance of the nation at a Summer Olympics. The country entered three competitors; Henriette Youanga in the women's individual archery, Mickaël Conjungo in the men's discus throw and Maria-Joëlle Conjungo in the women's 100 metres hurdles. None of those athletes advanced out of their heats.
The Absa Cape Epic, founded by Kevin Vermaak and also known as the Cape Epic, is an annual mountain bike stage race held in the Western Cape, South Africa. First staged in 2004, it has been accredited as hors catégorie by the Union Cycliste Internationale.
Colleen S. De Reuck is a long-distance runner from South Africa, who became an American citizen on 11 December 2000. She has had a long-lasting career, running in her forties, and made a total of four appearances at the Summer Olympics.
Cornelia Bürki is a South African-born retired long-distance runner who represented Switzerland in three consecutive Olympic Games, starting in 1980, with her best result being fifth in the 1984 3000 metres final. She is a 47-time Swiss national outdoor champion, which includes a fifteen-year undefeated streak in cross country and fifteen consecutive titles over 1500 metres, from 1975 to 1989. She was voted the Swiss Sports Personality of the Year in 1978. That year, she finished fifth at the 1978 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She was fourth in the 1500m and 3000m finals at the 1987 World Championships.
René Kalmer is a South African runner who has competed over distances ranging from 800 metres to the marathon. She represented South Africa at the 2008 Summer Olympics, running in the 1500 metres. She then represented South Africa again at the 2012 Summer Olympics, competing in the marathon.
Jennifer Rhines is an American long-distance runner who competes in track, cross country and road running events. She has competed in three different Summer Olympics and made 15 US Teams.
Bolivia sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China. The South American country's delegation was the fifteenth Summer Olympic team and seventeenth overall Olympic team overall sent by the country. Bolivia's National Olympic Committee sent seven athletes–three women and four men–across five sports and seven distinct events. A substantial number of the athletes originated in southern Bolivian cities, most notably Santa Cruz de la Sierra. All athletes except for cyclist Horacio Gallardo finished their events, although no medals were won by the country at these Games. Trap shooter César Menacho was the Bolivian flag bearer at the ceremonies.
Helalia Lukeiko Johannes, also known as Hilaria Johannes, is a Namibian long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon. She holds the Namibian records in the 10 km, 20 km, half marathon and marathon events.
Sarah Poewe is an Olympic breaststroke swimmer who has competed internationally for both South Africa and Germany.
Burry Willie Stander was a South African mountain biker, the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup under-23 men's cross-country 2009 world champion.
Andorra sent a delegation to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from 12 to 28 February 2010. Andorra has never won an Olympic medal, despite appearing at every Winter and Summer Games since 1976. The Andorran delegation to these Olympics consisted of six athletes, four in alpine skiing, one in cross-country skiing, and one in snowboarding, the last being Lluís Marin Tarroch, the first snowboarder to represent Andorra at the Olympics. He placed 34th in his only event, and failed to advance to the quarterfinals as a result. Francesc Soulié, the first Andorran cross-country skier to compete at the Games, made his second Olympics appearance, achieving a 47th place finish in the best of his three events. The four alpine skiers that competed recorded six DNFs in their thirteen combined events, though Mireia Gutiérrez recorded a team-high 24th-place result in her best event.
Annie Last, is an English professional cyclist, representing Great Britain and England, who specialises in mountain biking and cyclo-cross. She was chosen as a female competitor in the cross country mountain bike event for the Great Britain team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, going on to take 8th place.
Robyn de Groot, born 26 December 1982, is a South African cyclist. She cycled professionally on the road from 2006 to 2012. Representing South Africa for 6 consecutive years, she represented South Africa at 4 World Championships, the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India and the 2012 London Summer Olympics. She was unable to finish within the time limit due to an early crash and mechanical problems.
Micheen Barbara Thornycroft, is a Zimbabwean female rower. Born in Harare, she competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Olympics in the single scull events for the national team.
Yolande Speedy is a South African professional mountain biker. She has claimed two gold medals in the women's elite cross-country race at the African Mountain Bike Championships, and also represented her nation South Africa at the 2008 Summer Olympics. In 2007 Speedy competed in the Absa Cape Epic Mixed Category with team mate Paul Cordes, winning the category. She claimed 1st place again in 2013, this time in the Women's Category with team mate Catherine Williamson. Throughout her sporting career, Speedy has been training as an amateur rider for the IMC Racing Activeworx Mountain Biking Team, until she turned professional in 2010 and thereby raced for more than three seasons on Team Qhubeka NextHash.
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.
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.
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.
Alan Hatherly is a South African professional mountain bike racer. He rode at the cross-country event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He finished in 26th place with a time of 1:42:03. In 2018, Alan achieved a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, subsequently going on to be crowned the 2018 Under 23 Cross Country World Champion.
