UKC

I'm enjoying the Winter Olympics, especially the downhill events, but it has made me think again that downhill mountain biking should be in the summer games. It is much more exciting to watch than cross country or most of the  road cycling and would make a great Olympic spectacle.  Danny Hart's 2011 World Champs run was pretty thrilling. Any thoughts?

youtube.com/watch?v=LSqj8c8LaBQ&

Live DH is quite dull for me. Can't really see what the addition to the Olympics would add to the sport. 

Slalom would be better as it's one on one not against the clock.

Great video, thanks.

Each to their own I guess. I find it tremendously exciting. In contrast, cross country is unimaginably dull. 4x or slalom type events would be good though.

Not seen that video before, that was an insane run. 

I did a few years downhill in the late 90's but I was getting older and tracks were getting bigger and faster and crashes were taking longer to heal and hurt more. An excellent sport though. I actually helped build the first unofficial downhill track in Wharncliffe Woods and had the pleasure of chasing Steve Pete down it. I sort of kept up with him too, I say sort of because I built the track and it was the first time he had seen it, I was on my downhill rig in full body armour and he was on a borrowed hard tail in shorts and a flat cap but I was still keeping up with the current world champion and was on top of the world. About half way down though he started peddling and I checked my bike to see if I had suddenly managed to find a reverse gear. He was just gone from view in a nano second and that was it until the end. No prior knowledge, totally unsuitable bike, no protective gear and a massive amount of talent. (nicest and coolest guy I ever met too) 

Love that Danny Hart run. Here's Aaron Gwin's run when he snapped his chain on pretty much his first pedal stroke:  youtube.com/watch?v=9B3G2U4O7Kk&

I reckon it would be ace in the Olympics.

Absolutely thrilling!

its a crime that its not in the Olympics tbh, I imagine the IOC don't want to be handing out more cycling medals on a plate to GB though...

I always said that I hoped DH would never make it to the Olympics as it would ruin the sport, but Martin Whitely has managed to do that pretty well with the World Cups already so maybe it wouldn't make any difference. The Olympics would love the smooth motorways that seem to be fairly standard on the circuit now. A shame really as DH used to be the most brutal and technically demanding tracks but that doesn't make good TV so we're left with the shell of a sport that's gradually imploding on itself. The EWS is now more technically challenging and better for the riders but the downside is that it makes even worse TV!

If it goes in Dan Atherton has to build all the tracks so they're all like hardline. 

youtube.com/watch?v=DhBPFr3RRso&

There’s a pretty good argument for cyclo-cross being in the Winter Olympics - it can be done on snow, or frozen ground at least. And is a great spectator sport.

as to DH MTBing, I think that cycling is limited in the number of events, so including it would involve dropping something else. Now dropping one of the 3 sprint track events would be fair and reasonable - though not great for Jason Kenny - but you have to build an extra facility, so that’s a big drawback.

The commentators peaked way too early. They needed to pace themselves a bit better than that! 

Bit stuffed if the Netherlands got the games.

The reason that Cyclocross doesn’t get in the Winter Olympics is it does not need snow or ice in order for it to be run. Which is what is required for a sport to be included.

I would happily see one of the track events dropped, though I do enjoy them. Over, I think a dh track would be small beer compared to most other sporting venues.

Maybe but Bike Park Winterberg is less than 4 hours from Amsterdam so maybe Germany could help out. Realistically, Portland is over 3 hours from London and that was OK for the sailing in London 2012.

Willingen is another one that would be a reasonable option in that part of the world. The old World Cup track there was a wild one to ride!

Brian Cookson broached cyclocross being in the Winter Olympics - and rightly so. However Winter Olympic sports have to have an inherent use of snow or ice - which cycle cross doesn't.