World Cycling Center director: Future is bright for Chinese cycling

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is considering building a satellite of its World Cycling Center (WCC) in east China's Shanghai Municipality because the future is bright for Chinese cycling, the UCI WCC Director Jacques Landry told Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday.

"I was recently in China to meet with the president of the Chinese Cycling Association. One of the reasons for my visit in October is because there's been discussion on the table to open a satellite in Chongming Island," Laundry said. "I was amazed by the facility already over there. Right now the application is coming in."

The WCC was established in 2002 and has eight satellites in Canada's Bromont, Trinidad and Tobago's Couva, Japan's Shuzenji, South Korea's Yeongju, India's New Delhi, Portugal's Anadia, Argentina's San Juan and South Africa's Paarl. About 1,200 athletes have trained in these centers and some of them have won world championships and Olympic gold medals.

"Our role is basically to broaden the horizons of cycling across the globe and not only specifically in Europe. The best way of doing that is to start working with the emerging nations and in nations that want to actually develop," Laundry said. 151 national federations of the UCI's 203 members are considered emerging nations.

"China is not an emerging nation, but we want to provide some guidance in terms of building a sustainable development plan for Chinese athletes in cycling," Laundry told Xinhua.

BMX racing made its debut at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. Chinese athletes secured one bronze medal at home in that year, two silvers and a bronze in London in 2012 and won the first gold of the sport (women's team sprint) in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and retained it in Tokyo in 2021.

"One of the things that we did talk about [with the CCA] was which disciplines to focus on, on the Olympic side of things. There are five Olympic disciplines – BMX freestyle, BMX racing, track, road, and mountain bike. There are a lot of [chances], given the talent pool in China. There's high probability of success if there's a certain amount of focus on BMX freestyle, because China has a very, very good gymnastics program, and there's a good crossover to BMX freestyle," Laundry said.