Which cyclist won the 1996 Olympic men's mountain-bike cross-country race?

Bart Brentjens won the 1996 Olympic men’s mountain-bike cross-country race.

The event at the Atlanta Olympic Games was the first time mountain biking appeared on the Olympic programme. Brentjens represented the Netherlands and became the sport’s first Olympic mountain-bike champion.

The race was conducted as cross-country rather than downhill. Competitors completed repeated laps over natural terrain, with climbs, descents, turns and technical sections testing endurance as well as bike handling.

France’s Miguel Martinez won the men’s cross-country title at the 2000 Sydney Games, so his name is a frequent mix-up in Olympic mountain-bike questions. Julien Absalon later became one of the event’s most successful riders, winning Olympic gold in 2004 and 2008. Brentjens’s 1996 victory remains the historic first.