{"id":161029,"date":"2017-09-01T09:15:12","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T09:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=161029"},"modified":"2017-09-01T09:19:05","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T09:19:05","slug":"paola-pezzo-life-moutain-biking-princess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2017\/09\/01\/paola-pezzo-life-moutain-biking-princess\/","title":{"rendered":"Paola Pezzo \u2013 Life of the Mountain Biking Princess"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the peak of her career, Pezzo was something like a pizza – she came from Italy, she was about to be pretty well known, and everybody loved her. In the memory of the generation raised in the late 90s\u2019, Paola Pezzo would probably remain the most beautiful princess of the mountain biking history.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually, it was unusual seeing a photo of her without the signature half unzipped jersey that she wore regardless of the outside temperature or weather. Both fans and sponsors were excited to see her on the track as she was not only pretty but also successful. There\u2019s been only one person who has gained the \u201cTriple Crown\u201d title of mountain biking so far and it\u2019s her: Paola Pezzo. She won the world cup, the World championships, and Olympic gold medal. And not only once\u2026<\/p>\n

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Paola Pezzo bikes during the women’s cross country race of the moutain bike event 30 July at the Georgia International Horse Park. Pezzo won the gold ahead of second place Alison Sydor of Canada, and Susan DeMattei of the US.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you were born in Bosco Chiesanuova near Verona, which is very close to the Alps, you\u2019d probably be destined for the winter sports. This was also the case of a young Paola who devoted herself to cross-country skiing when she was 19. Only two years later she discovered that a mountain bike could be a great alternative for summer training and very soon she realised to be exceptionally good in it. It didn\u2019t take a long time before she started winning local races. In 1992, she became Italian champion and the next year she stole the title of the fastest female mountain biker both in the European and World Championships.<\/p>\n

However, the continuous outstanding results made her also one of the hot favourites for the inaugural Olympic mountain biking race, which was introduced in Atlanta in 1996. Although she crashed early in the race resulting in a scraped knee, she got on the bike right away and carried on riding to catch up with the leading group. After completing roughly a third of the 33,9-km race\u2019s total distance, she attacked the front riders and dropped them in the climbing section in such a speed the other participants fell into desperation. Pezzo kept pulling away and won the race by 1 minute and 7 seconds despite the temperature of 40\u00b0C and the troublesome 98% humidity. This made her the first female Olympic gold medalist in the history of the sport.<\/p>\n