Cycling at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

The men's individual road race at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, was held on Sunday July 29, 1984. There were 135 participants from 43 nations in the race over 190.20 km, on a course in Mission Viejo, California. The maximum number of cyclists per nation was four. 55 cyclists finished.[1] The event was won by Alexi Grewal of the United States, the nation's first medal in the men's individual road race. All three nations represented on the podium were there for the first time in the event; Canada with Steve Bauer's silver and Norway with Dag Otto Lauritzen's bronze joined the Americans.

Men's road race
at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad
German stamp commemorating Olympic cycling
VenueStreets of Mission Viejo
DateJuly 29
Competitors135 from 43 nations
Winning time4:59:57
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Alexi Grewal
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Steve Bauer
 Canada
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Dag Otto Lauritzen
 Norway
← 1980
1988 →

Background

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This was the 12th appearance of the event, previously held in 1896 and then at every Summer Olympics since 1936. It replaced the individual time trial event that had been held from 1912 to 1932 (and which would be reintroduced alongside the road race in 1996). The late 1970s and early 1980s had seen a shift in power in the sport from Western Europe to the world's superpowers, with Eastern Europe (particularly Poland) more generally also rising. With the Soviet-led boycott, the host Americans were favored. Davis Phinney was considered "the best sprinter on the US team" but "not a great climber"; the hilly course did not favor him. Alexi Grewal nearly missed being able to compete, testing positive for the stimulant phenylethylamine and being suspended 10 days before the Games; he successfully appealed and was reinstated, on the ground that the test was not able to distinguish between phenylethylamine and albuterol (which Grewal took for asthma).[2]

Bermuda, Belize, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, and Uganda each made their debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its 12th appearance in the event, the only nation to have competed in each appearance to date.

Competition format and course

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The mass-start race was on a 190.2 kilometre course over 12 laps of a circuit in Mission Viejo. The course was hilly.[2][3]

Schedule

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All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)

Date Time Round
Sunday, 29 July 1984 13:00 Final

Results

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Grewal and Bauer separated from the lead pack on lap 11. They "never had a large lead" over the next pair, Lauritzen and Sæther, but were always clear of them. Grewal beat Bauer in the final sprint by "less than a wheel."[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time
  Alexi Grewal   United States 4:59:57
  Steve Bauer   Canada s.t.
  Dag Otto Lauritzen   Norway + 0' 21"
4 Morten Sæther   Norway s.t.
5 Davis Phinney   United States + 1' 19"
6 Thurlow Rogers   United States s.t.
7 Bojan Ropret   Yugoslavia s.t.
8 Néstor Mora   Colombia s.t.
9 Ron Kiefel   United States 1' 43"
10 Richard Trinkler   Switzerland s.t.
11 Raúl Alcalá   Mexico s.t.
12 Stefan Maurer   Switzerland + 3' 37"
13 Alberto Volpi   Italy + 4' 10"
14 Per Christiansson   Sweden s.t.
15 Helmut Wechselberger   Austria s.t.
16 Enrique Campos   Venezuela s.t.
17 Luis Rosendo Ramos   Mexico + 6' 14"
18 Brian Fowler   New Zealand + 6' 48"
19 Martin Earley   Ireland s.t.
20 Atle Kvålsvoll   Norway s.t.
21 Fabio Parra   Colombia s.t.
22 Thomas Freienstein   West Germany + 7' 51"
23 Francisco Antequera   Spain + 11' 30"
24 Per Pedersen   Denmark + 11' 46"
25 Kari Myyryläinen   Finland s.t.
26 Lars Wahlqvist   Sweden s.t.
27 Paul Kimmage   Ireland s.t.
28 Daniel Amardeilh   France s.t.
29 Philippe Bouvatier   France s.t.
30 Kjell Nilsson   Sweden s.t.
31 Harry Hannus   Finland s.t.
32 Stefan Brykt   Sweden s.t.
33 Louis Garneau   Canada + 15' 30"
34 Kurt Zellhofer   Austria s.t.
35 Primož Čerin   Yugoslavia s.t.
36 Achim Stadler   West Germany s.t.
37 Stephen Cox   New Zealand s.t.
38 Patrick Wackström   Finland s.t.
39 Gary Thomson   Ireland s.t.
40 Kim Eriksen   Denmark s.t.
41 Werner Stauff   West Germany + 18' 04"
42 Jure Pavlič   Yugoslavia s.t.
43 Séamus Downey   Ireland s.t.
44 Jean-Paul van Poppel   Netherlands + 22' 20"
45 Matsuyoshi Takahashi   Japan s.t.
46 Marko Cuderman   Yugoslavia s.t.
47 Salvador Rios   Mexico s.t.
48 Park Se-ryong   South Korea s.t.
49 Johann Traxler   Austria s.t.
50 Jeff Leslie   Australia s.t.
51 Fernando Correa   Venezuela s.t.
52 Carlos Jaramillo   Colombia s.t.
53 Arthur Tenn   Jamaica s.t.
54 Mustapha Najjari   Morocco + 22' 30"
55 Michael Lynch   Australia + 27' 05"
Luis Biera   Argentina DNF
Gary Trowell   Australia DNF
John Watters   Australia DNF
Paul Popp   Austria DNF
Carlo Bomans   Belgium DNF
Ronny Van Sweevelt   Belgium DNF
Frank Verleyen   Belgium DNF
Joslyn Chavarria   Belize DNF
Warren Coye   Belize DNF
Lindford Gillitt   Belize DNF
Wernell Reneau   Belize DNF
John Ford   Bermuda DNF
Earl Godfrey   Bermuda DNF
Clyde Wilson   Bermuda DNF
Alain Ayissi   Cameroon DNF
Joseph Kono   Cameroon DNF
Dieudonné Ntep   Cameroon DNF
Thomas Siani   Cameroon DNF
Pierre Harvey   Canada DNF
Alain Masson   Canada DNF
Craig Merren   Cayman Islands DNF
David Dibben   Cayman Islands DNF
Alfred Ebanks   Cayman Islands DNF
Aldyn Wint   Cayman Islands DNF
Manuel Aravena   Chile DNF
Roberto Muñoz   Chile DNF
Rogelio Arango   Colombia DNF
Spyros Agrotis   Cyprus DNF
Ole Byriel   Denmark DNF
Søren Lilholt   Denmark DNF
Harri Hedgren   Finland DNF
Claude Carlin   France DNF
Denis Pelizzari   France DNF
Andreas Kappes   West Germany DNF
Mark Bell   Great Britain DNF
Neil Martin   Great Britain DNF
Peter Sanders   Great Britain DNF
Darryl Webster   Great Britain DNF
Kanellos Kanellopoulos   Greece DNF
Ilias Kelesidis   Greece DNF
Randolph Toussaint   Guyana DNF
Choy Yiu Chung   Hong Kong DNF
Hung Chung Yam   Hong Kong DNF
Law Siu On   Hong Kong DNF
Leung Hung Tak   Hong Kong DNF
Stefano Colagè   Italy DNF
Roberto Pagnin   Italy DNF
Renato Piccolo   Italy DNF
Lorenzo Murdock   Jamaica DNF
Kim Cheol-seok   South Korea DNF
Lee Jin-ok   South Korea DNF
Sin Dae-cheol   South Korea DNF
Sirop Arslanian   Lebanon DNF
Dyton Chimwaza   Malawi DNF
Daniel Kaswanga   Malawi DNF
George Nayeja   Malawi DNF
Amadu Yusufu   Malawi DNF
Jesús Rios   Mexico DNF
Mustapha Afandi   Morocco DNF
Brahim Ben Bouilla   Morocco DNF
Ahmed Rhail   Morocco DNF
Hans Daams   Netherlands DNF
Twan Poels   Netherlands DNF
Nico Verhoeven   Netherlands DNF
Roger Sumich   New Zealand DNF
Hans Petter Ødegård   Norway DNF
Ramón Zavaleta   Peru DNF
Ramón Rivera   Puerto Rico DNF
Maurizio Casadei   San Marino DNF
Hassan Al-Absi   Saudi Arabia DNF
Mohammed Al-Shanqiti   Saudi Arabia DNF
Abdullah Al-Shaye   Saudi Arabia DNF
Ali Al-Ghazawi   Saudi Arabia DNF
Manuel Jorge Domínguez   Spain DNF
Miguel Indurain   Spain DNF
José Salvador Sanchis   Spain DNF
Heinz Imboden   Switzerland DNF
Benno Wiss   Switzerland DNF
Muharud Mukasa   Uganda DNF
Ernest Buule   Uganda DNF

References

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  1. ^ "Cycling at the 1980Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's Road Race, Individual". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Road Race, Individual, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 2, p. 379.
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