Gene`s BMX News

[BMX-News]

*** Utah BMXer Holds On To Olympic Dream ***

Salt Lake, UT -- 06/02/2008



Aspiring Olympian Arielle Martin is coming home to Utah after her
devastating crash at the BMX World Championships last weekend,
but she's not giving up on her dream to compete at the 2008 Beijing
Games in China this summer.

"I am not giving up until the battle is over," she said in an e-mail.
"I believe I am the strongest U.S. woman for the position and until
that gate drops in Beijing, I will continue to train as if I am going."

Martin crashed in her quarterfinal run during the world championships
in China, failing to score any rankings points while her good friend and
rival Jill Kintner made it all the way to the final. Kintner finished sixth
and earned just enough points to eclipse Martin -- by one -- for the only
starting spot for the American women at the Beijing Games.

"Pretty heartbreaking for me," Martin wrote in her blog.

But the Lone Peak High and Brigham Young graduate said that after
a "week or so" home in Utah, she will return to training at the U.S.
Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. She's the top alternate
for the team, so she will race at the Olympics if Kintner cannot -- a
realistic possibility, considering Kintner recently tore the anterior cruciate
ligament and meniscus in her knee and races with a brace for support.

Martin also said there's a chance that New Zealand will not fill one of
its starting positions, potentially allowing it to fall to the U.S. and create
room for both her and Kintner to race at the Olympics.

However, a USA Cycling spokesman said it's "extremely unlikely"
that a nation would reject a starting position -- and even if one did,
International Cycling Union (UCI) procedures dictate that any unfilled
spots will be allocated to nations that don't already have starting positions.

Spokesman Andy Lee said the UCI will finalize the number of Olympic
entries for which each nation has qualified on Friday. After that, national
Olympic committees have until June 20 to accept or deny those spots.
If a spot is denied, the UCI has until July 7 to reallocate it.

The Olympics begin Aug. 8; the inaugural BMX competition
is scheduled for Aug. 20-21.

"In all honesty, it's pretty crushing to have lost that position because
of a crash," Martin wrote in her e-mail, "but that's the game. ... Rest
assured, I haven't given up hope quite yet."

ACC - http://www.genesbmx.com/2008-bmx-olympics.html
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