Christine Thorburn (born September 17, 1969, in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...

) is a retired American professional road cyclist. She became the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

women's

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also trac ...

champion in 2004, and later represented the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in two editions of the Olympic Games (2004 and 2008), where she narrowly missed the podium twice in the same event. Before retiring to pursue her medicine and

rheumatology Rheumatology () is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and management of disorders whose common feature is inflammation in the bones, muscles, joints, and internal organs. Rheumatology covers more than 100 different complex diseases, c ...

career in 2008, Thorburn rode for the Webcor Builders Cycling Team in the women's elite professional events on the UCI Women's World Cup and on the UCI World Championships, where she took home the bronze medal in 2006.

Racing career

Before her professional cycling career, Thorburn had been a cross-country runner at

Grinnell College Grinnell College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalis ...

in her native state Iowa, where she earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. Thorburn discovered competitive cycling when she enrolled as a graduate student at Stanford University School of Medicine. An old knee injury that sidelined her running career turned her sights to cycling, and eventually, she was encouraged by some of her friends to join the university's club team. In 1998, she helped Stanford mount a second-place finish at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships. After receiving her medical degree from Stanford in 1999, Thorburn took a break from competitive cycling to undergo a professional residency in

internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

. Upon returning to a relatively leisure schedule from her limited medicine studies, Thorburn started riding for the Webcor Builders Women's Amateur Cycling Team in 2002. She established an early breakthrough by joining the U.S. team at the UCI World Championships and by scoring her first ever triumph at the U.S. Championships in 2004, which handed her an Olympic selection. An official member of the USA Cycling team, Thorburn made her worldwide debut at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, where she finished fifteenth in the women's road race (3:25:42), and fourth in the women's time trial (32:14.82), narrowly missing out the Olympic podium by twenty seconds. At the 2006 UCI World Championships in Salzburg, Austria, Thorburn joined her teammate Kristin Armstrong to stand on the podium for the first time in the event's history, as she delivered the Americans a bronze-medal time in 35:34.25. Two years later, Thorburn qualified for her second U.S. squad, as a 38-year-old, in women's road cycling events at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

by receiving one of the nation's three available berths from the UCI World Cup and by being finally chosen to the USA Cycling team. In the women's road race, held on the second day of the Games, she successfully completed a grueling race with a fifty-second-place effort in 3:41:08, surpassing New Zealand's Catherine Cheatley by a few inches. Three days later, in the women's time trial, Thorburn missed another chance to claim an Olympic medal by three seconds after finishing with a fifth-place time in 35:54.16. Shortly after her second Olympics, Thorburn announced her official retirement from competitive cycling to focus on her full-time medical career as a rheumatologist at the Palo Alto Medical Clinic. She also currently resides in

Menlo Park, California Menlo Park ( ) is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, California, Eas ...

with her husband Ted Huang, a prominent Mistral windsurfer and a former two-time Olympian (1996 and 2000) from

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

Career highlights

;2004 : 1st MaillotUSA

U.S. Championships (ITT), United States : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall, Cascade Cycling Classic, United States : 1st Stage 3, Tour of the Gila, United States : 2nd U.S. Championships (Road), United States : 3rd Overall, Redlands Bicycle Classic, United States :: 2nd Stage 2 :: 3rd Stage 1 : 3rd Overall, Sea Otter Classic, United States :: 3rd Stage 1, Laguna Seca Raceway :: 3rd Stage 2,

Salinas Valley The Salinas Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Salinas'') is one of the major valleys and most productive Agriculture, agricultural regions in California. It is located west of the San Joaquin Valley and south of San Francisco Bay and ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

: 3rd Stage 1, Tour of the Gila, Tyrone, New Mexico (USA) : 3rd Stage 2, Tour of the Gila, Mogollon, New Mexico (USA) : 4th

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

( ITT),

(GRE) : 15th

(

Road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

(GRE) ;2005 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall, Redlands Bicycle Classic, United States :: 1st Prologue, Mount Rubidoux,

:: 1st Stage 1, Oak Glen, California : 1st Stage 1a, Tour du Grand Montréal,

Lachine, Quebec Lachine () is a borough (''arrondissement'') within the city of Montreal on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It was founded as a trading post in 1669. Developing into a parish and then an autonomous city, it was Montreal m ...

(CAN) : 2nd Pan American Championships (Road),

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

(ARG) : 2nd Overall, Tour de Toona, United States :: 1st Stage 3,

Altoona, Pennsylvania Altoona ( ) is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 43,963 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Altoona Metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan area, w ...

: 3rd U.S. Championships (ITT), United States : 3rd Overall, Sea Otter Classic, United States :: 3rd Stage 1 :: 3rd Stage 2 ;2006 : 1st Stage 1, Central Valley Classic, United States : 1st Stage 1, Tour du Grand Montréal,

(CAN) : 2nd U.S. Championships (Road), United States : 2nd Overall, Redlands Bicycle Classic, United States :: 2nd Stage 3 :: 3rd Stage 1 : UCI World Championships (ITT),

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

(AUT) : 3rd U.S. Championships (ITT), United States : 3rd Overall, Nature Valley Grand Prix, United States :: 2nd Stage 1,

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

;2007 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall, Central Valley Classic, United States :: 1st Stage 2 : 2nd Prologue, Redlands Bicycle Classic, United States : 3rd U.S. Championships (ITT), United States : 3rd Stage 1, Redlands Bicycle Classic, United States : 5th UCI World Championships (ITT),

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

(GER) ;2008 : 2nd Overall, Cascade Cycling Classic, United States :: 2nd Stage 3 :: 3rd Stage 1 : 5th

( ITT),

(CHN) : 12th UCI World Championships (ITT),

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

(ITA) : 52nd

(

(CHN)

References

External links

* *
NBC 2008 Olympics profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorburn, Christine 1969 births Living people American female cyclists Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for the United States American cycling road race champions Grinnell College alumni Stanford University alumni Sportspeople from Davenport, Iowa People from Menlo Park, California Sportspeople from San Mateo County, California 21st-century American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen