Cycling Career
Nothstein began cycling in 1987 and made his international debut in 1989, at the UCI Track Cycling World Cycling Championships in Lyon, France.
Nothstein won his first world championship medal in 1993, when he took the silver in the keirin. He became a double world champion in 1994, winning both sprint and keirin events at the 1994 World Championships. He did so whilst nursing a broken heel bone. Nothstein again rode with a fractured bone, this time a kneecap, as part of the U.S. team sprint squad that won the bronze medal at the 1995 World Championships.
He won a Silver medal in the sprint at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, he became the first American cyclist in 16 years to win an Olympic gold medal, when he took the victory in the sprint.
In March 2001, he turned professional (on the road) with the U.S. based Mercury Viatel team, before moving to the Navigators Insurance Cycling Team in 2002. He remained with Navigators for four years to the end of his career.
In 2004, Nothstein had success on the road as well as track, proving many people wrong; many had said that this wasn't possible for a sprint rider. In order to transfer to road riding, he had lost 30 pounds of body mass, compared to his weight at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
He earned the nickname The Blade for his razor thin victory margins. He was also called this for his skill at cutting through a field of riders into first place.
Read more about this topic: Marty Nothstein, Biography
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