*** Back In Utah Martin Helps Kintner In BMX ***
Beijing, China (AP) -- 08/16/2008
For eight months, Arielle Martin and Jill Kintner were inseparable.
Together, they trained on the BMX track at the U.S. Olympic
raining Center just south of San Diego, lifted weights, ate fish
tacos, slept in the same tiny dorm room.
They were friends and foes, roommates and rivals,
both working toward winning Olympic gold in Beijing.
After all the work was done, there was only one spot and Kintner
won it by the slimmest of margins, a mere point. When it became
apparent that Martin had no chance to join her in the Olympic field
- lobbies for a second U.S. spot failed - she packed her things, bid
Kintner goodbye and went home to Utah, devastated and distraught.
"That was it. Our journey together was finished," Martin said Saturday
in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "I came home,
and it just didn't seem right. I kind of felt like the easy and selfish
way out would be to abandon Jill when it was most critical for her."
So for four days, Martin weighed her options.
She could stay home and rest her body after a grueling few months,
or head back to Chula Vista, resume training and help her teammate -
someone she barely knew before they moved into that dorm room -
realize her own medal quest.
The choice was easy. Martin's Olympic chances
were gone, but her Olympic spirit remained.
"It was a hard decision," Martin said, "but it was the right decision."
She returned to the training center for three more weeks, finding a
way to push Kintner as much as she could through every training ride,
with hopes of helping her reach the BMX medal podium in Beijing.
And this week, albeit separated by 6,103 miles and with only one
wearing the red, white and blue, Kintner and Martin are teammates
once again.
"It's been so emotional for us," Kintner said. "We've been together,
then she left and she came back just to help me prepare. That's real
strong character, right there. I've been getting all the attention, it
all
slipped out of her hands at the last minute, and it's been hard for both
of us."
The battle wasn't supposed to turn out like this.
Countries could have as many as two women's racers qualify for
the Olympic BMX field, and the United States expected it would earn
the maximum allotment. But a series of injuries held the Americans
back in World Cup races, keeping them from winning crucial points,
and when all the racing was done the U.S. had to settle for just one
start position.
Until the very last race, Martin seemed like a lock.
She led Kintner by 13 points in the yearlong USA Cycling standings
going into the final event, the world champion****ps in Tinyuan, China.
The only way Martin could lose that much ground was to crash and
earn no points, while Kintner - racing on a balky knee that she'd re
-injured about a month earlier - finished at least sixth.
That's exactly what happened. Martin crashed.
Kintner finished sixth. The spot was hers.
Martin asked the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Cycling to appeal
on her behalf, hoping that the International Cycling Union would grant
her a wild-card based on her world ranking (8th) and the fact that New
Zealand planned only to use one of its two allotted start positions in
the
BMX event.
The appeals fell short, and Martin will be
watching on TV Wednesday and Thursday.
"Can't change the past," Martin said. "Got to move on, right?"
While seeing all the hubbub in Beijing will sting, all is not lost for
Martin, who just turned 23. She's already starting to compose training
strategies for the 2012 London Olympics. She's planning an 18-day
vacation with her husband, U.S. Army Spc. Mike Verhaaren, who's
been deployed to Afghanistan for nearly a year.
He got some time off just in case his wife was
heading to Beijing. They'll spend it in the U.S. instead.
"I'm really looking forward to that," Martin said.
The fact that Martin and Kintner got so close
during this process is fascinating by itself.
They knew who the other was before moving into the OTC,
of course, having been opponents on the track. There was
a mutual respect, but nothing resembling a friend****p.
Now, they speak of each other like sisters. This was never Kintner
vs. Martin. It was U.S. vs. the world, and to them, it remains that way.
"It's an individual s****t. It's not a team s****t. It's every man for
himself and that's the way the s****t was designed," Martin said.
"I think both of us were a little bit apprehensive about what to
expect, but at the end of the day, we learned to like each other.
We'd make bets for ice cream, things like that. And at the end
of the day, we just had fun."
They still are, somehow, even though one friend gets to race for
Olympic gold, and the other will be watching from her living room.
"I feel like if I win a medal," Kintner said,
"half of it goes to Arielle."
CC - The Associated Press (AP) Wire.
ACC - http://www.genesbmx.com/2008-bmx-olympics.html
Geneb...Wenatchee,Wa****ngton-USA
All Things Northwest in BMX!
***** Gene`s BMX *****
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