The British Olympic Association has announced that the following
mountain bike cyclists [what? – Ed] have been selected to represent Team GB at the
forthcoming Olympic Games in Sydney.



Men’s Mountain Bike Cross-Country



Nick Craig Diamond Back RT

D.O.B: 3-4-1969. Born in Ashton under Lyne.

Nick now lives in High Peak, Derbyshire, with his wife Sarah and son Thomas. Nick
started racing when he was just nine years old. Nick has been a multi National Cyclo-Cross
champion and is the reigning Mountain Bike Cross Country Champion. Sydney will be
his first Games.



Oliver Beckingsale Scott UK

D.O.B: 7-6-1976. Born in Bristol now lives Nailsea Somerset.

Oli graduated from Sheffield Hallam University in 1996 with a degree in recreational
management. He has been racing for nine years. Oli was twice the National Under 23
Mountain Bike Cross Country Champion. He is a regular competitor in the World Cup
events and in 1999 raced the World Cup in Sydney on the Olympic circuit. Sydney will
be his first Olympic Games.



Women’s Mountain Bike Cross-Country



Caroline Alexander WCPP

D.O.B: 3-3-68. Born and still lives in Barrow-in-Furness.

Caroline used to be a draughts woman. [I think they mean draughtswoman, not that
she liked draughts – Ed] In 1995 she was the European Mountain Bike Cross Country
Champion. She is the only British woman to have won a round of the World Cup series
when in Round 3 of the 1997 World Cup series in St. Wendel, Germany, she beat the
Olympic champion Paolo Pezzo by 1.31 min. She is a multi National Cyclo Cross and
Mountain Bike Cross Country Champion. She retained her Mountain Bike crown last weekend.
Sydney 2000 will be her second Olympic Games.



Louise Robinson Stourbridge CC-WCPP

D.O.B: 12-1-1965. Born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, but now lives in Stourbridge,
West Midlands. Louise was a junior cross country runner finishing 4th at the National
Junior Cross Country Championships at the age of fourteen. This year she finished
in the silver medal position at the inaugural World Cyclo Cross Championships and
is the reigning National Cyclo Cross Champion. The Sydney Olympic Games will be her
first Games. Louise is the daughter of Brian Robinson who was the first British rider
to win a stage in the Tour de France. Brian and his brother Des rode in the 1952
Olympic Road Race in Helsinki.



Simon Clegg, Team GB’s Chef de Mission for the Olympic Games, said: "I am delighted
to welcome these mountain bike cyclists into Team GB. Mountain biking was a successful
addition to the Olympic programme in Atlanta and the Sydney countryside should provide
a superb backdrop to this fast developing event."