Jill Kintner - Biography

Biography

Kintner is from Burien, Washington. She began riding BMX in July 1989 at seven years of age and claimed her first national win in the combined 7–8 Girls Class at the American Bicycle Association (ABA) Great Northwest Nationals in Sumner, Washington, on August 17, 1990; it was her first national-level race. She won races at this event on both day 1 and day 2. At the age of nine in 1990, she received her first sponsorship from the Bike Factory, and turned professional in 1995 at 14 years of age.

She began riding BMX bikes during her childhood, as her father owned his own BMX track in Washington. She began competing professionally at age 14 and captured more than 70 BMX wins. In April 2004 she made the switch to full-time Mountain Bike racing competition. In 2006, Mike King, a former BMX and mountain bike racer, then director of BMX for USA Cycling, urged her to return to BMX riding, and in 2007 she did so, with the added prospect of possibly participating in the 2008 Summer Olympics

Jill came out of BMX retirement in early 2007 ostensibly to supplement her mountain cross training. She won her first post-comeback race at the first attempt. Despite a serious knee injury, Kintner continued to pursue success in BMX riding. With the objective of being included in the US BMX team for the 2008 Olympics, Kintner switched to BMX riding full-time. On June 2, 2008, she won a spot on the team after coming in sixth place at the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Championships held in Taiyuan, China, out of a field of 32 racers, making the top 16. Kintner relocated to San Diego, California in order to train at the Olympic Training Center, and won the bronze medal in BMX racing at the 2008 Olympics on August 19. Kintner has stated that it is highly unlikely that she will return for the 2012 Olympics.