Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Olympic Mainers

"Maine’s list of 2008 Summer Olympians grew Tuesday when Adam Craig was named to the U.S. Mountain Biking team.

“I’m on it?’’ he said when contacted Tuesday afternoon. “Sweet. I’ve had a lot of people calling me for Olympic stuff, so now I guess I can get started.’’

Craig, 26, who was raised in Exeter and attended Dexter High School in rural Penobscot County, now lives and trains in Bend, Ore. He was chosen Tuesday as the discretionary nomination to the team.

Todd Wells, 32, earned the team’s automatic nomination with his performance on the World Cup’s European Tour, where he had sixth-, 11th- and 13th-place finishes.Craig was the only other American to have a top-10 finish, with an eighth in the season’s second race, and he placed in the top 20 three other times.

“Honestly, I haven’t been sweating” the selection, Craig said. “I’ve been moving forward with my training for Beijing.’’

He said that everything he did in Europe was to get himself ready for Beijing, where he will race on the Laoshan Mountain Bike Course on Aug. 23 – his mother’s birthday.

“My plan was to race well enough on the European swing so that I’d be comfortable to make the team, he said. “But I did not want to be at my peak, not until Aug. 23. That was the plan and I think it’s right on track.’’

Craig is the fourth Mainer to be selected to go to Beijing. He joins rowers Wyatt Allen of Portland, Anna Goodale of Camden and Elle Logan of Boothbay Harbor."

- Portland Press Herald

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