Cycling has been a part of the Olympic Games since the first modern Summer Olympics in 1896. Though there are four different cycling disciplines included as events—road, track, mountain bike, and bicycle motocross (BMX)—the only style of competition to be featured is racing (that means there are no tricks involved in BMX). Road-cycling races, the most widely known, have been held in every Games besides 1900, 1904, and 1908, while track races were excluded only once, in 1912. Mountain-bike cycling was first featured in 1996, with two cross-country races, one for men and one for women. BMX cycling is the newest discipline, having debuted at the 2008 Olympic Games. While road and track cycling take place on concrete and wood tracks, respectively, mountain-bike-cycling and BMX-cycling events are both held off-road.
The two newest cycling disciplines, though less well known, are interesting expansions to the traditional cycling sports. Both mountain cycling and BMX were founded by recreational cyclists in California. Mountain cycling finds its roots in the 1970s creation of more-durable bikes and tires, which allowed for more-dedicated off-road racing and competitions. BMX cycling comes from the advent of motocross racing and freestyle stunt riding, making a motorized sport manual and more flexible. In Olympic mountain cycling, riders race through a pre-engineered track of natural obstacles and unclear terrain that creates divergent pathways and decisions for cyclists to make regarding the risk and speed of landscapes. Olympic BMX cycling is competed on a track cleared of dirt or mud, with hills and curves that send cyclists jumping and sometimes colliding with each other as they race.
For the past two Summer Olympic Games, Great Britain has triumphed with the most total medals and the most gold medals for cycling overall. Christopher Hoy, a cyclist from Great Britain, holds the record for the most gold medals won by a single cyclist, with six, and the record for most gold medals of any British athlete who has competed in the Olympics. Had he not retired after the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Hoy would have been a cyclist to watch out for in the 2016 Games. Another British cyclist, Bradley Wiggins, helped set a world record for track cycling in 2008, earning a gold medal. Wiggins is a current Olympian predicted to score highly in the 2016 Games, his final before retiring.
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