Paris 2024 Cycling

Cycling is composed of various disciplines, reflecting its age-old past and modern outlook. Road cycling is the earliest form of the sport. During the 19th century, cycling enjoyed a surge in popularity thanks to the invention of the chain-and-gearing system. The first races were organised a few years later, with the first documented event held in 1868 in Parc de Saint Cloud in Paris. Shortly thereafter, national cycling federations began to be established and an international federation, known as the Union Cycliste Internationale, was set up in 1900 to oversee the organisation of the various disciplines.

The first bicycles were invented in the 1850s and looked quite different to the bikes we know today. But it wasn’t until the 1870s that the first competitions for cycling indoors on wooden tracks were staged, with the first six‑day race taking place in London in 1878. Track cycling quickly grew in popularity and continued to develop with the creation of the International Cycling Association in 1892 and the organisation of the first world championships in Chicago in 1893.

Mountain bike is a relatively new sport that emerged in the 1970s, when cyclists in California decided to take their bikes off-road and explore new trails. In the 1990s, the first mountain bikes that could withstand the impact of rougher terrain were created, and the hobby subsequently took off, quickly becoming a sport in its own right. The first informal competitions took place in the late 1970s before the first official world championships were held in the 1990s.

BMX racing emerged from the motocross craze that took off in California in the 1960s, as youngsters began racing their bikes on improvised tracks all over the state. BMX began to develop into a proper sport in the early 1980s; in 1981 the International BMX Federation was founded, with the first BMX world championships following one year later. BMX was integrated into the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 1993, thereby clearing the first hurdle required to feature at the Olympic Games.

Bicycle Motocross (BMX) Freestyle was born out of the imagination of children and teenagers in California in the 1970s, who were inspired by the moves of BMX racers in the region. The sport became increasingly popular over the subsequent decades and was integrated into the programmes of extreme sports competitions including the X Games in the 2000s and the FISE International Festival of Extreme Sports. The first BMX Freestyle World Cup was organised by cycling’s world governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), in 2016 as part of that year’s FISE.

Although it comprises three long-established disciplines, triathlon is still a young sport, having only been invented the 1970s by the San Diego Track Club as alternative workout to traditional track training. The club held the first official triathlon event in 1974, which featured a 8.5km run, an 8km cycle and a swim just short of 550m. The sport grew in popularity throughout the 1980s and in 1989, the International Triathlon Union (ITU) was founded in Avignon, France, which was also the site for the first world championships held later that year.

Skateboarding is a young and spectacular sport that developed in the US in the 1950s as surf culture was taking off. It was then part of the underground, alternative culture of the 1980s, going hand in hand with the values of freedom, rebellion and thrill-seeking. The sport continued to develop and became more widely accessible at the start of the 21st century, proving a huge hit among younger audiences.