Ex-Olympian Hegg Is Back in The Games

Twelve years after he won two cycling medals at the Los Angeles Olympics, Steve Hegg earned a chance Sunday to add to his total at Atlanta.

Hegg, 32, of Dana Point, finished second behind Frankie Andreu in the points standings after a five-race series to decide which two cyclists get automatic berths on the U.S. team.

Andreu, 29, of Dearborn, Mich., came in third in the competition’s final event, a 137-mile road race Sunday, helping him overtake Hegg for the No. 1 spot in the final standings.

Andreu wound up with 195 points to 177 for Hegg, who was 11th Sunday after winning two time-trial events and a road race earlier in the competition.

“I was a little tired today. I think the trials finally caught up to me,” Hegg said. “I don’t think you can get too nervous about making the team. The hard work’s still ahead of me.”

Already selected to the men’s five-member team was Lance Armstrong, the world’s top-ranked cyclist. U.S. Cycling Federation officials excused Armstrong from the trials.

The final two members of the team were to be selected by the federation’s coaches, who planned to announce their decision Monday.

One strong possibility for those choices was Frank McCormack, who won Sunday’s race and finished third in the final standings with 130.5 points.

McCormack, 25, of Leicester, Mass., said he wouldn’t spend a sleepless night worrying about whether or not he make the team.

“I’ve been nervous the last three weeks,” he said. “I’ve given everything I had. There’s nothing else I can do now.”

Hegg had no such concerns after earning his second tour as a U.S. Olympian. He was 20 when he won a gold and a silver medal at Los Angeles in 1984.

Hegg turned professional after those Olympics, and pros were barred from competing in the 1988 and ’92 Games.

“It was definitely harder this time,” Hegg said of the time trials. “I’ll probably remember every one of these races.”

Sunday’s race was a 14-lap event on a hilly, 9.8-mile course that organizers said closely resembles the layout the riders will face in Atlanta. McCormack edged George Hincapie by about six feet as a pack of several dozen cyclists crossed the line, and finished in 4 hours 55 minutes 48 seconds.

“It was a tough race,” Andreu said. “Everyone was a lot more aggressive than I thought they might be out there.”

Earlier Sunday, the federation named the final two members of the women’s team to join Dana Point’s Linda Brenneman, winner of their trials. Chosen were 1992 Olympian Jeanne Golay and Alison Dunlap, a member of the 1996 national team.

Brenneman, Golay and Dunlap finished in that order in the final standings at the trials.

Laura Charameda was named the first alternate to the women’s team and Deirdre Demet was the second.