“I didn't even know it was possible,” Kintner said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Saturday from Taiyuan. “For it to come down like this, I don't know what to think. There had to be some higher forces working for me.” However, the day will likely be remembered as bittersweet for the American women, most of whom struggled Saturday. Although the official rankings have not yet been confirmed by the International Cycling Union, calculations by USA Cycling show they will have only one women's start position in the Beijing Games – meaning while Kintner races for Olympic gold, her close friend Martin will be watching.
“I was crying because of that more than because I made it,” said Kintner, who was with Martin when USA Cycling's BMX director Mike King came into their hotel room Saturday evening and broke the news. “Today, it's a lot more bitter than sweet. Tomorrow, it might be a different story.”
The U.S. could have secured a second Olympic spot with some strong finishes Saturday. But other than Kintner, no American woman advanced out of the quarterfinals. Martin crashed in her quarterfinal race, ending her day, and probably her Olympic hopes as well. Kintner entered Saturday 13 points behind Martin in the USA Cycling standings. Martin was eliminated in the quarterfinals, meaning she did not add any points to her yearlong total. And by finishing sixth – an outcome that was all but assured when two French women in the eight-racer final stumbled – Kintner earned 14 points, giving her a 129-128 victory after the 17-race competition.
Kintner and Martin were roommates both on the trip to China and for the last several months at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.
“You take the good with the bad,” King said. “You're happy for one and you're hurting for the other.”
Kintner was a four-time national champion and three-time world champion in the event known as mountain-cross, where racers on mountain bikes head downhill while dodging obstacles. But because BMX was added to the Olympic program, she returned to the smaller bike this year with eyes of making the team headed to Beijing.
She was a junior BMX world champion as a teenager – and now as an adult, will have the chance of adding a gold medal to her resume.
“After all I've gone through to get here, I guess it was worth it,” Kintner said.
Photos: GT Bicycles
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.