Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2007-09-24 From: Xinhuanet

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Chinas Liu Ying competes during the women’s cross country at the 2007 Good Luck Beijing international mountain bike invitational competition held in Beijing, Sept. 22, 2007. Liu Ying crowned with one hour 45 minutes and 54 seconds. (Xinhua Photo)

BEIJING, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) — The 2007 Good Luck Beijing international mountain bike invitational competition dropped its curtain as Chinese rider Liu Ying crowned women’s cross country, while Christoph Sauser of Switzerland won the men’s edition here on Saturday.

The newly crowned world champion demonstrated her speed and endurance to win the gold in one hour 45 minutes and 54 seconds after covering seven laps of the 2008 Beijing Olympic course.

“The course was really hard. You have to slow down at every turn. I was familiar with this course, so I took some advantage over some foreign riders,” said Liu, who just won the title of the World Cup last week.

The highest elevation of the course is said to be 130 meters, and the total length is about 4.52 kilometers, with the minimum width being 2.5 meters and maximum 8 meters respectively, averaged at 3-3.5 meters. The entire space of the course’s peripheral area reaches 5 kilometers.

One year from now on, cyclists will compete on the same course at the Beijing Olympics.

“I hope I could get the chance to race on the same course here in 2008. I will try my best to get good result,” added Liu.

Athens Olympic bronze medallist Sabine Spitz of Germany claimed the silver in 1:47:18.

“I like the course, it challenged all riders, because it was really difficult to keep the speed in this kind of bumpy course with high altitude,” said Spitz.

The 36-year-old rider said her next goal would be the Beijing Olympic Games and hope she could attend the London Olympic Games.

“I did not have any specific goal for the Beijing Olympics, butI will try my best to compete and hope I could ride as long as I can and go to London,” added Spitz.

The bronze medal went to Lene Byberg of Norway in 1:47:28.

In man’s edition, Sauser took the lead from the very beginning and dashed out in the last two laps to win the gold in 2:11:53.

“I hope this could be the Olympic Games, then I could be the winner of the Olympics,” joked Sauser, who did not hide his ambition for the Beijing Olympic gold.

“After this event, I think I had known this Olympic course well enough. It was a really good course,” added Sauser.

Bart Brentjens of the Netherlands claimed the silver in 2:14:06,while the bronze medal went to Carlos Coloma Nicolas of Spain in 2: 15:49.

As an official event of “Good Luck Beijing” series, the race attracts 81 first-class riders from 16 countries and regions.

Chinas Liu Ying crosses the finish line during the women’s cross country at the 2007 Good Luck Beijing international mountain bike invitational competition held in Beijing, September 22, 2007. Liu Ying crowned with one hour 45 minutes and 54 seconds. (Xinhua Photo)

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