Catharine Pendrel: Difference between revisions

| caption = Catharine Pendrel at the World Cup in Houffalize (Belgium) on April 15, 2012

| birth_place = [[Fredericton ]], [[New Brunswick]]

| height = {{height|5 ft= 5| in=5}}

| weight = {{convert|50| kg|lb|abbr=on}}

| amateurteam1 = Norco Factory<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/catharine-pendrel-getting-used-to-rainbow-stripes | title=Catharine Pendrel: Getting used to rainbow stripes | work={{noitalic|[[Cyclingnews.com]]}} | publisher=[[Immediate Media Company]] | date=February 1, 2012 | accessdate=June 10, 2015 | last=George | first=Sue}}</ref>

| updated show-medals = July 29, 2014yes

'''Catharine Pendrel''' (born September 30, 1980) is a [[CanadaCanadians|Canadian]] [[Cross-country cycling|cross-country]] [[mountain biker]] from [[FrederictonHarvey Station]], [[New Brunswick]]. A member of the Canadian National team since 2004, Pendrel was the world champion in cross-country mountain biking in 2011 and 2014 and the [[2007 Pan American Games]] champion. She is also the current reigning [[Commonwealth Games]] champion when she won gold in [[Glasgow]]. Additionally, Pendrel is the 2010 World Cup Champion as well as the winner of the 2012 UCI and 2016 World Cup Series.<ref name=Canada.com/><ref name="CBC2016"/> She won a bronze medal at the [[2016 Summer Olympics]] in [[Rio de Janeiro]].

Pendrel was a competitive horse rider in [[eventing]] prior to selecting mountain biking as her primary sport.<ref name=CTVprofile>{{Cite web|title=Catharine Pendrel profile |url=http://www.ctvolympics.ca/athletes/athlete/catharine-pendrel-172031/index.html |publisher=''CTV Sports'' |accessdate=July 12, 2012}}</ref> Her brother Geoff Pendrel is an elite downhill mountain bike racer. He introduced her to the sport as a child through the trails he built on their horse farm.<ref name=Canada.com/> Pendrel's first race was on a bike borrowed from her brother.<ref name=CTVprofile/> She noted that she got into mountain biking because she "sucked at all the school sports."<ref name=wheelsturning>{{cite news|title=London 2012: For mountain biker Catharine Pendrel, the wheels are always turning |author=Paul Hunter |url=httphttps://www.thestar.com/sports/london2012/athletes/article/1226246--london-2012-for-mountain-biker-catharine-pendrel-the-wheels-are-always-turning |publishernewspaper=''[[Toronto Star]]'' |date=July 13, 2012 |accessdate=July 16, 2012}}</ref> She recounts that her first rides on her bike were often quite nervous ones ruled by fear, especially on descents where she would walk her bike down, she said that "what I remember from starting is falling and crashing a lot."<ref name=wheelsturning/>

She then headed from the [[Atlantic Canada|East Coast]] to the [[Canadian West Coast|West Coast]] where she began riding at the [[University of Victoria]]. There she had to convince future coach Dan Proulx into taking her on, as he was quoted "Catharine and I often joke because, no, I didn’tdidn't see (world champion potential) in her at first. It took a lot of persistence and hard work over time. She had to bug me a bit to get me to coach her at first and luckily it all worked out. It just goes to show you, you can work hard and make something happen."<ref name=wheelsturning/>

Her first international competition was at the 2004 World Championships in [[Les Gets]], [[France]] where she finished 46th.<ref name=Canada.com/> Prior to competing at the [[2008 Summer Olympics]], Pendrel competed at the 2007 Pan Am Games where she won gold.<ref name=Canada.com>{{cite news|title=Catharine Pendrel |url=http://www.canada.com/sports/2012-summer-games/CATHARINE+PENDREL/6825078/story.html |author=Canadian Olympic Committee |publisher=''Canada.com'' |accessdate=July 12, 2012 |date=June 22, 2012}}</ref> She finished 4th at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the [[Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's cross-country|cross-country event]] just 9 seconds out of a medal position.<ref name=CTVprofile/><ref name=wheelsturning/> Pendrel was not as notable a rider at the time as her hero, teammate, and gold medal favourite [[Marie-Hélène Prémont]] who did not finish after a lingering and unknown illness caused her to retire from the race.<ref name=wheelsturning/>

This near Olympic success helped launch Pendrel's most successful period. She won the 2010 UCI World Cup Series before winning the [[2011 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships|2011 World Championships]].<ref name=Canada.com/> These achievements put her as one of Canada's top medal favourites for the [[2012 Summer Olympics]]. In advance of the London games, she had won an online fan poll to be selected as Canada's flag bearer, though the Canadian Olympic Committee eventually selected [[Simon Whitfield]] as the flag bearer. In response she [[Tweet (Twitter)|tweeted]] "Thank you Canada & cycling fans for voting me as people's choice for flag bearer. You honor and inspire me!"<ref name=flagbearer>{{cite news|title=Catharine Pendrel: Canada's choice for Olympic flag bearer |author=Jesse Campigotto |url=httphttps://www.cbc.ca/sports/story2.720/2012/07/03/spcatharine-olympicspendrel-canadiancanada-s-choice-for-olympic-flag-bearer-tournament-pendrel1.html1234313 |publisher=''[[CBC Sports]]'' |date=July 4, 2012 |accessdateaccess-date=July 12, 2012}}</ref> She was also put into a favoured position to win at the London Olympics by winning the test event prior to the games.<ref name=flagbearer/> At the Olympics Pendrel finished back in 9th place, disappointing the high expectations of her. After the race a tearful Pendrel said that "I felt so strong yesterday and today just didn't happen. You know I'm sorry because I know everyone in B.C. got up at 4:30 [a.m.] to watch me. It's just what I had in the day and unfortunately this only comes every four years. Maybe in Rio."<ref>{{cite news |title=Canadian favourite Pendrel finishes 9th in mountain bike |author=Jesse Campigotto |url=httphttps://www.cbc.ca/olympicssports/cycling2.720/story/2012/08/11/spcanadian-olympicsfavourite-cyclingpendrel-finishes-9th-in-mountain-bike-pendrel1.html1203084 |publisher=''CBC News'' |date=August 11, 2012}}</ref>

Pendrel followed up Olympic disappointment with a great result in her next major multi-sport event the [[2014 Commonwealth Games]] in Glasgow. There she won the gold medal in the women's mountain bike event while teammate [[Emily Batty]] followed her for a Canadian one-two finish on the podium.<ref>{{cite news |title=Catharine Pendrel, Emily Batty win gold, silver in mountain bike |publisher=''[[CBC Sports]]'' |url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/commonwealthgames/news/catharine-pendrel-emily-batty-win-gold-silver-in-mountain-bike-1.2721188 |date=July 29, 2014}}</ref> She then took her second World Championship title that September in Hafjell, Norway.

Pendrel met cycling Canada's automatic selection Criteria to represent Canada at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and she did participate as part of [[Canada at the 2016 Summer Olympics|Canada's Olympic team]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://olympic.ca/2016/06/29/returning-olympians-highlight-canadas-cycling-team |title=Returning Olympians highlight Canada’sCanada's cycling team|lastlast1=Tozer|first1=Jamie|date=29 June 2016|website=www.olympic.ca |publisher=[[Canadian Olympic Committee]]|accessdate=29 June 2016}}</ref> At the mountain bike event she crashed early on one of the first turns but would battle back into the main chase pack, together with [[Emily Batty]] and would later pull away in the third position, holding it for the bronze medal over Batty. After Pendrel described the race saying "It's unbelievable. Before the race I would have been happy with my career if I didn't have an Olympic medal, but I'm sure happy that I do. At the beginning of the race with getting in a crash at the start and then my shifting stopped working and it was just like: 'Everything is going wrong. I'm used to having bad starts, luckily, and I know I can work through a field. We had prepared for every scenario. I knew that I could close a gap and that's what I set about doing today."<ref>{{cite news |title=Canada's Catharine Pendrel wins Olympic mountain bike bronze after early crash |url=http://olympics.cbc.ca/news/article/canada-catharine-pendrel-wins-olympic-mountain-bike-bronze-after-early-crash.html |author=Doug Harrison |publisher=''[[CBC Sports]]'' |date=August 20, 2016 |access-date=2016-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821222326/http://olympics.cbc.ca/news/article/canada-catharine-pendrel-wins-olympic-mountain-bike-bronze-after-early-crash.html |archive-date=2016-08-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Two weeks after the Games she won her third overall World Cup title.<ref name="CBC2016">{{cite news|last1=Blum|first1=Benjamin|title=Catharine Pendrel adds cycling World Cup to Olympic bronze|url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/catharine-pendrel-cycling-world-cup-1.3748249|accessdate=4 September 2016|publisher=CBC Sports|date=4 September 2016}}</ref>

*[http{{Webarchive |url=https://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20081121224537/http://canadian-cycling.com/cca/french/nat_team/members/track/pendrel_bio.shtml |date=November 21, 2008 |title=Catharine Pendrel's personal bio] }}

[[Category:Olympic cyclists offor Canada]]

[[Category:SportspeopleCyclists from British Columbia]]

[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists in cycling]]