Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Cycling
at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Pictograms from top: BMX, Mountain, Road and Track cycling.
VenueOlympic BMX Center (BMX)
Mountain Bike Centre (Mountain)
Fort Copacabana, Pontal (Road)
Rio Olympic Velodrome (Track)
Dates6–21 August 2016
No. of events18
Competitors from 80 nations
← 2012
2020 →

The cycling competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro were held at four venues scheduled to host eighteen events between 6 August and 21 August.

The venues were Fort Copacabana in the Copacabana, venues were in Clusters for the start and finish of the road cycling race,[1] Pontal in the Barra Cluster for the road cycling time trial competitions, the Rio Olympic Velodrome, also in the Barra Cluster for track cycling,[2] the Olympic BMX Center for BMX and the Mountain Bike Centre for mountain biking, both in the Deodoro Cluster.[3]

Cycling competitions had been contested in every Summer Olympics programme since the first modern Olympiad in 1896 alongside athletics, artistic gymnastics, fencing and swimming.

Since the 1896 contests, which featured five track events and an 87 km road race from Athens to Marathon and back, Olympic cycling had gradually evolved to include women's competitions, mountain biking and BMX, resulting to the current eighteen events.

In February 2013, the International Cycling Union (UCI) announced its intention to petition the IOC to extend the cycling programme by three events for both men and women: the return of the points races (track event), a BMX freestyle event and a mountain bike eliminator. However, in August 2013, the IOC stated that the cycling programme would be the same as in 2012.[4] There were no changes made to the 2016 Olympic cycling programme compared to the cycling at the 2012 Olympics.[5]

  1. ^ "Rio Olympic Games Facilities: Copacabana Region". brasil2016.gov.br. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  2. ^ "Rio Olympic Games Facilities: Barra Region". brasil2016.gov.br. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  3. ^ "Rio Olympic Games Facilities: Deodoro Region". brasil2016.gov.br. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  4. ^ "Olympic cycling to remain unchanged for 2016 Rio Games". The Daily Telegraph. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  5. ^ "Wielersport – Rio 2016" (in Dutch). olympischespelenrio.nl. Archived from the original on 16 September 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013.