Alison Jane Sydor (born September 9, 1966) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

retired professional cross-country mountain cyclist. She began cycling at age 20 and is a graduate of the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

. She won a silver medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in mountain bike, and has won three world mountain bike championships gold medals (1994 in

Vail, Colorado Vail is a Home rule in the United States, home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the ...

; 1995 in

Kirchzarten Kirchzarten is a town in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in the federal-state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. A Zionist agricultural training farm was founded in Kirchzarten in 1919 to prepare young people to become farm ...

, Germany; and 1996 in

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

, Australia) and the 2002 relay race in

Kaprun Kaprun () is a municipality in the Zell am See District in the province of Salzburg (state), Salzburg in Austria. Together with the neighboring city of Zell am See the town presents itself as the tourist destination and skiing area "Zell am See-K ...

, Austria. Sydor has also won five silver medals (1992, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003) and three bronze (1998, 1999 (relay race), 2004) at mountain bike world championships, and one bronze at the road world championships (1991). In addition, Sydor has won 17 World Cup (cross-country) races in her career, and for 13 consecutive years (1992–2004) never finished outside of the top-5 at the world championships. In 1995 and 1996, Sydor was awarded the

Velma Springstead Trophy The Velma Springstead Trophy is an award presented annually to Canada's outstanding female Sportsperson, athlete. It is named in honour of track athlete Velma Springstead whose career ended prematurely when she died from pneumonia in 1927 when only ...

as Canada's top female athlete. In September 2007 Sydor was inducted into the

Mountain Bike Hall of Fame The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame (MBHOF) was founded in 1988 to chronicle the history of mountain biking. Formerly located in Crested Butte, Colorado, it relocated to Fairfax, California in 2014 and became part of the Marin Museum of Bicycling. Si ...

. In December 2007 it was announced that Sydor would be inducted into British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2008 at a ceremony on May 29, 2008. Sydor and teammate

Pia Sundstedt Pia Ann-Katrine Sundstedt (born 2 May 1975 in Kokkola, Finland) is a professional former cyclist, who competes in road bicycle racing and mountain bike racing, as well as cross-country skiing events. Sundstedt competed in the Summer Olympics ...

won the Women's Category in the Absa

Cape Epic The Absa Cape Epic or the Cape Epic, founded by Kevin Vermaak is an annual mountain bike stage race held in the Western Cape, South Africa. First staged in 2004, it has been accredited as ''hors catégorie'' (beyond categorization) by the Un ...

in 2008. Sydor then came back to win the Mixed Category with Nico Pfitzenmaier in 2009. In 2013, Sydor was inducted into

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada, it serves as a hall of fame and mu ...

Major results

;

UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships The UCI Mountain Bike World Championships are the world championship events for mountain bike racing in the disciplines of cross country, downhill, and four-cross. They are organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing ...

* Gold Medal (Cross Country: 1994, 1995, 1996; Team Relay: 2002) * Silver Medal (Cross Country: 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003) * Bronze Medal (Cross Country: 1998, 2004; Team Relay: 1999) ;

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and , a UCI Road World Championships ...

* Bronze Medal (1991) ; Summer Olympics * Silver Medal (

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

) * 4th Place (

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

) * 5th Place (

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

) ; Commonwealth Games * Silver Medal (Team Time Trial:

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

) * Bronze Medal (Road Race:

) ; Pan American Games * Gold Medal (

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

) * Silver Medal (

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

) ; Absa

* 1st Place Ladies Category 2008 * 1st Place Mixed Category 2009

References

External links