Christine Thorburn (born September 17, 1969, in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

) is a retired American professional road cyclist. She became the U.S. women's individual time trial champion in 2004, and later represented the United States 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 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 in her native state Iowa, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

. Thorburn discovered competitive cycling when she enrolled as a graduate student at

Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1858. This ...

. 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. 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 ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens, 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 Kristin Armstrong Savola (; born August 11, 1973) is a former professional road bicycle racer and three-time Olympic gold medalist, the winner of the women's individual time trial in 2008, 2012, and 2016. Before temporarily retiring to start a ...

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 also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing by receiving one of the nation's three available berths from the

UCI World Cup The UCI World Cups are the World Cups for cycling disciplines organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale: * UCI Road World Cup (1989–2004) * UCI Women's Road World Cup (1998–2015) * UCI Mountain Bike World Cup * UCI Track Cycling 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 Palo Alto Medical Clinic, also known as the Roth Building (structure built in 1932) was a former medical clinic. The building is located at 300 Homer street, at the corner of Bryant street in Palo Alto, California, Palo Alto, California. It is li ...

. She also currently resides in Menlo Park, California 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 th ...

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 The Redlands Bicycle Classic is a cycling stage race located in Redlands, California Redlands ( ) is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 73,168, up from 68,747 at t ...

, 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, California : 3rd Stage 1, Tour of the Gila,

Tyrone, New Mexico Tyrone is a census-designated place in Grant County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 637 as of the 2010 census. Demographics Description Tyrone is located northeast of the original town of Tyrone, which was destroyed by mining ...

(USA) : 3rd Stage 2, Tour of the Gila,

Mogollon, New Mexico Mogollon, also called the Mogollon Historic District, is a former mining town located in the Mogollon Mountains in Catron County, New Mexico, United States. Located east of Glenwood and Alma, it was founded in the 1880s at the bottom of Silver ...

(USA) : 4th Olympic Games (

ITT ITT may refer to: Communication * Infantry-Tank Telephone, a device allowing infantrymen to speak to the occupants of armoured vehicles. Mathematics *Intuitionistic type theory, other name of Martin-Löf Type Theory *Intensional type theory B ...

), Athens (GRE) : 15th Olympic Games ( Road), Athens (GRE) ;2005 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall,

, United States :: 1st Prologue, Mount Rubidoux, California :: 1st Stage 1, Oak Glen, California : 1st Stage 1a,

Tour du Grand Montréal The Tour du Grand Montréal was an annual women's road bicycle racing stage-race in Canada, between 2002 and 2009 in women's road cycling, 2009. It was rated by the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI as a UCI race classifications, 2.1 category race ...

, Lachine, Quebec (CAN) : 2nd

Pan American Championships A Pan American Championship is a top level international sports competition between athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs in the Americas. Typically these championships are recurring, the most ...

(Road),

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...

(ARG) : 2nd Overall, Tour de Toona, United States :: 1st Stage 3, Altoona, Pennsylvania : 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, Lachine, Quebec (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 (AUT) : 3rd U.S. Championships (ITT), United States : 3rd Overall, Nature Valley Grand Prix, United States :: 2nd Stage 1, Saint Paul, Minnesota ;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: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

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

), Beijing (CHN) : 12th UCI World Championships (ITT), Varese (ITA) : 52nd Olympic Games ( Road), Beijing (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 women