August 20, 2008 (Beijing, China) – Gina Grain’s ninth place in the women’s Points race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics is one more result that puts Grain amongst the top ten in the world in endurance track events. She had two top-four finishes in 2006 at the Commonwealth Games on the track and the road, two top six finishes at the Los Angeles World Cup in the Points race, with a fifth place in 2005 and a sixth in 2006.

Her best result is a silver medal at the 2006 Track Worlds in the Scratch race, which combined with her World Cup results that year, ranked her as the number one Scratch race rider in the world.

But there is no Scratch race at the Olympics, which is a shame, not only because Grain would have such a solid chance of winning it, but because it’s so exciting. “The Scratch race should be an event,” says Grain, “it’s really neat for the spectators.”

Grain has quite a bit to say about that fact that there are few cycling opportunities for women at the Olympics, and that the Canadian Cycling Association seems to be doing little for women racers on this front or at the Track World Championships. There was a team pursuit event at the Track Worlds last year, but, says Grain, Canada has no plans to develop or train a team. “Canada is the only country that has done nothing to develop a women’s team pursuit team. I’m sure we could field a good team in the event. We don’t even have a track coach. There seems to be no forward thinking on that. At the next Track World Championships there’s a Team Sprint event for women but they’ve done nothing to develop a women’s team for that either.”

The IOC and the UCI don’t seem to be keeping pace either when it comes to women’s participation in the sport. When IOC member Hein Verbruggen was asked why there are so few opportunities for women cyclists at the Olympics, he shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know,” said the former president of the UCI. “It is historical.”

Female athletes like Grain commit to the Olympic dream of excellence as much as any male athletes. “I really love the road and the track,” says Grain, “but I’ll always love mountain biking too. I’ve been on the track team since 2004, but the last two years have been very different. This is my first Olympic Games and half the women here have already been to the Olympics.”

Grain says the time she spent training in Switzerland prior to the Games was crucial to her strong ride and she thanked Cycling BC and the COC for “putting that together.”

“I’ve worked so hard to come here. Eleven years ago I wrote down that I was going to go to the 2008 Olympics. I still have that piece of paper. It’s a gradual process. I graduated, I have a degree in kinesiology, and I’ve worked hard. It’s been a phenomenal experience for the past two years to be at this level,” she added.