Having looked at US success in track and field and swimming in Why the US Sucks at Olympic Lifting: part 18, I’m going to change gears (ha ha) a bit and look at a couple of exceptions that exist in the US in terms of this whole issue of sports and what we’re good at or have been good at. Because while most seem to think that all I’m doing is repeating the same information (and to a degree I am) the exceptions to some of the ‘rules’ that appear to exist are often more interesting.

The first exception I want to look at is US cycling and there are a number of reasons to examine it.  An occasionally seen argument is “Everyone said the US couldn’t win the Tour De France and we did that and therefore anything is possible, including an American doing well in OL’ing” and it’s worth seeing if the situations between the sports are at all similar or comparable.

Certainly cycling in this country has never been more than a niche sport (until recently) but the idea that the US was not producing on any level is more of a misconception than reality as you’ll see below.  In fact, you may be quite surprised at how the US has done in the world of international cycling.  The surprise is that we’ve done it given the situation of the sport in this country: small numbers of athletes, no incentives, etc.  Basically US Cycling seems to lack a lot of factors that seem to be ‘required’ for success.

Of equal interest is that in the last decade or so, the situation in US cycling has changed drastically and that change is worth examining.  A niche sport has, relatively speaking, exploded.  The number of cyclists has increased, the country cares and we are producing results at a level even better than before.  Looking at how this happened (or even the fact that change-resistant America could have this happen) is also illustrative as it may provide a ‘blueprint’ for how this might happen in another sport.

This is long and it will take me 2 days to cover it because there’s a lot of necessary background to all of this.  So it goes but I will get to OL’ing on Friday.  So, after you’ve read this, it’s time for me to bore you with cycling.

Continue reading Why the US Sucks at Olympic Lifting: Part 19