Death Stuns U.S. Cyclists
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ For the tight-knit U.S. Olympic track cyclists, the death of road racer and friend Nicole Reinhart in a race back in the United States was stunning.
Still, they had no choice but to go out and race themselves.
"It's the Olympic Games. You have to stay focused," said sprint rider Marty Nothstein of Trexlertown, Pa., a working-class community in eastern Pennsylvania where kids race from an early age at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome.
Reinhart, who lived in Mertztown, Pa., was one of the children who learned to race at T-Town, as the community is known within the sport. She died Sunday after crashing into a tree at a road race in the Boston suburb of Arlington, Mass.
Some five hours later in Sydney, Nothstein and Tanya Lindenmuth, another Trexlertown rider, competed in the Olympics.
"All the cyclists from around T-town are very close," said Craig Griffin, coach of the U.S. endurance riders. "Nicole's death is difficult for all of us, but for some it's harder."
The Americans racing in the team pursuit event were told of Reinhart's death before they rode, but U.S. Cycling officials didn't tell Nothstein and Lindenmuth until after their sprint prelims.
"We had no choice but to tell them at some point early in the day," said Sean Petty, director of the U.S. team. "It was all over the Internet. People starting calling me at 5:30 in the morning."
It turned out Nothstein already knew. He had heard about it before leaving the apartment he's renting in Sydney.
"I couldn't stop thinking about her on my ride to the velodrome," he said. "I really couldn't believe it."
Lindenmuth, who came up with Reinhart through cycling's junior circuit over the past six years, wasn't told until she went for drug testing after her morning qualifying race.
"It was a good time and a good place to tell me," she said. "I was able to compose myself before I came back out to the track."
When she returned, she also had a good defense mechanism.
"I was racing. I had something to do," she said.
Nothstein thought immediately of cycling's dangers.
"It's a difficult sport. It's a dangerous sport," he said. "You can reach some very high speeds on a bicycle. One small move can end up fatal. Nicole is the latest tragedy in a dangerous sport."
Team leaders brought in a sports psychologist to help the athletes focus on the job at hand.
"I think Nicole is on everyone's mind right now," Nothstein said. "But when you strap your helmet on, you've got to realize what you came all the way over here for.
"But deep down inside, I think everyone's pretty saddened by the whole ordeal," he added.
The Pennsylvania riders weren't the only ones affected. As the 1997 national champion in the 500-meter time trial and match sprint, Reinhart was known by many within the track discipline.
Over the past two years she concentrated on road racing, which broadened her circle of friends. Two of her teammates on the Saturn trade team, Erin Hartwell and Antonio Cruz, are on the Olympic team.
"Everyone knew Nicole. She even dated some of my endurance riders at one time or another," Griffin said. "Her death really hits very hard. She was like a little sister to many of us."
(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
