BMX racer eyes spot on U.S. Olympic team
By BOB McCLURE
Article published on Wednesday, March 19, 2008  |
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| Amanda Geving of Largo hopes to be a member of the first U.S. Olympic BMX team. |
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LARGO – The next two months will be crucial for Amanda Geving.
If all goes well for the 2007 Seminole High School graduate, she will be one of two women selected to represent the United States at the Beijing Olympics in the new Olympic sport of BMX bicycle racing.
Geving, 19, of Largo, one of the nation’s best in her sport, is in a battle with a couple of other women’s elite riders for the top ranking by USA Cycling.
Two women will be named to the U.S. team and one will be the person with the No. 1 ranking, based on competition. The other position will be filled by a five-person USAC committee, which could select the second-ranked rider or someone lower if they choose to, Geving said.
“I have to finish above all the other girls (in total points) to ensure it,” said Geving, the winner of the prestigious Florida Rider of the Year award in 2007. “Number two is the choice of USA Cycling. They could go with the second-ranked rider or the fourth-ranked rider depending on what they want.”
Geving was trailing Arielle Martin of Pleasant Grove, Utah, and Jill Kintner of Seattle by three points. Races in West Palm Beach, Adelaide, Australia; Copenhagen, Denmark; and the World Championship in Taiyuan, China, will dictate the final point standings.
Geving and a number of other riders have been training at a U.S. Olympic training facility in Chula Vista, Calif., since Jan. 2. She was invited based on her record as a six-time Florida champion, a four-time national runner-up and four-time competitor in the World Championship.
Working with and against other potential Olympic riders has spurred her to greater heights and made the dream of representing the U.S. burn even stronger in her heart.
“I dream about it a lot,” said Geving, “and especially being at the training center. It really motivates you to push hard and try harder.”
The 5-foot, 5-inch, 140-pound blonde stays in shape by working out three days a week in the gym, riding sprints each day on her 20-inch aluminum bicycle and training on bike trails every other day.
“Physical training is as important as the mental training,” said Geving. “It’s an important aspect of it. You have to be strong because BMX is about strength to weight ratio.”
Her current regimen is a long way from Azalea Park in St. Petersburg where she got her start.
It all started when she was playing soccer at age 10 and noticed some BMX racers a block or two away going over the obstacles on a local course.
“I saw all the people jumping and riding,” she said, “and I thought it looked cool.”
While some children that age would approach the sport more as a recreational activity, Geving took it very seriously.
“She was very athletic as a young girl,” said her father, Bill Geving. “She was very good at everything she tried.”
Geving gave up an aspiring youth baseball career (not softball, her dad stressed) to concentrate strictly on BMX racing.
Despite riding a heavy, clunkier bike the first half of her first competitive season, she finished 13th in the state rankings and, as the old cliché goes, was off to the races from there.
“I’m motivated and determined to win,” said Geving, who is a member of the Redman Bicycles factory team. “My dad helped me with techniques and ways to jump but I learned a lot at the races. I would watch other riders and see what they did, and see if it would work for me. I want to push myself and get myself to the top of my skills.”
Her success has come with a price, though. Over the last nine years she has suffered a lacerated liver, cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and most recently a fractured ankle.
It has been injuries like those that have kept the talented racer from winning a national championship.
As in most sports, she admits luck plays a strong part in success, along with strategy and training.
“I really don’t like to build myself up,” Geving said. “I work hard and no other girl works as hard as me. I try to do what I need to do.”
It has been that way for many years. It doesn’t matter if the sport is high school soccer, cross country, track or BMX. Geving is probably as competitive as athletes get.
And if everything falls into place like she hopes, Geving will be cruising down a four-story ramp toward a series of 35-foot obstacles when the BMX competition gets under way in Beijing on Aug. 21.
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Article published on Wednesday, March 19, 2008
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