Julien Absalon (Orbea Racing Team)(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Julie Bresset (BH - SR Suntour - Peisey Vallandry)(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
The UCI announced the number of mountain bike spots qualified for each nation for the 2012 London Olympic Games on Wednesday. The spots are based on three criteria specified by the UCI including nations ranking and performance within the individual continental regions.
The UCI Olympic qualification ranking was determined by summing the points of the UCI rankings by nation Olympic format as of May 23, 2011 and May 23, 2012.In case of equal points, the nations were ranked by their best place in the UCI rankings by nation.
For the men's race, the top 24 ranked nations qualified one, two or three riders depending on their specific ranking. In addition, seven other nations also qualified one rider each based on individual rankings as of the 2011 Continental Championships for Asia, America, Africa and Oceania. Finally, Guam qualified one rider under a special provision which states that if an NOC obtains a qualifying place under criterion no. 2, but has already qualified under criterion no. 1, the next best ranked NOC in the respective continental championships ranking will qualify.
For the women's race, the top 18 ranked nations qualified one or two riders depending on their specific ranking. In addition, four other nations also qualified one rider each based on individual rankings as of the 2011 Continental Championships for Asia, America, Africa and Oceania.
In total, 50 men and 30 women are allocated spots by nation for the Olympic Games. A complete listing of the number of mountain bike racers qualified per nation is below.
Although there was some minor shuffling in the rankings after this past weekend's World Cup in La Bresse, France, there were no changes in the number of racers each nation qualified relative to what Cyclingnews posted last week thank the calculations of Rob Jones.
What happens next is that nations will decide whether to accept all qualified spots and then name their riders to the teams. Any unclaimed spots will be re-allocated by the UCI.
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The Olympic mountain bike races will happen at Hadleigh Farm in Essex on Saturday, August 11 and Sunday, August 12.
Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
