LOS ANGELES -- American cyclist Steve Hegg, who grew up in a motor home and rode for Canada for two years under an assumed name, cycled his 'funny bike' into history Wednesday by winning the Olympic gold medal in the 4,000-meter pursuit.
Hegg, alias Steve Ingram of the Canadian team, has a foggy past and a bright future after defeating West Germany's Rolf Golz in the final as the U.S. team continued its surprising domination of Olympic cycling events. Golz took the silver and veteran Leonard Harvey Nitz of Sacramento, Calif. won the bronze.
In other cycling events, Nelson Vails of New York and Mark Gorski of LaJolla, Calif. posted the fastest times for the second consecutive day to advance to the semifinals in the match sprint competition. Japan's Tsutomu Sakamoto and Frenchman Philppe Vernet also made the semis.
But the attention was focused on Hegg, 20, who picked up coach Eddie Borysewicz's 6-year old son and carried him on his shoulder for his victory lap before a delighted, standing crowd of 8,000 at the California State University Velodrome.
Hegg, who gave up a world class ski career because he thought his chances for Olympic gold were better in cycling, has taken a long, tangled route to fame, beginning with his three-year term as a member of Canada's national team where he rode and skied under the name of Steve Ingram while living in Red Deer, Alberta.
Hegg grew up in a motor home sharing a bicycle with his sisters Christy, 22, and Heidi, 19, who have also become national-class cyclists, according to family friend Tim Ponsford.
Hegg deflects all questions about his background.
'My name is Steve Hegg, I'm 20 years old and I live in Dana Point, California,' he said when reporters' questions took a personal direction.
Hegg said he took up cycling as part of dry-land training as a skier in Canada, but sister Christy had a different story.
'We entered a bikeathon and we raised a lot of money,' said Christy, of a 25-mile charity race in Red Deer when Steve was about 14. 'We had two bikes then, both junk. Steve won and I was second. After that we got to like it and we used to race all the time at home.'
Steve Ingram finished eighth for Canada at the junior world cycling championships in Mexico City.
He now lives in California with his mother and step-father, and is happily a member of the American team.
'There's no way you can be a world-class skier and a world class cyclist at the same time,' he said of his decision last winter to give up competitive skiing. 'You'd need 16 months in a year to do that.'
Hegg said it was painful decision to give up skiing, particularly after beating this year's Olympic downhill champion Bill Johnson in 1981 and 1982 in the national championships. But after a disappointing 1982 season, Hegg saw his future was in cycling.
'When Johnson won his medal it made me train even harder,' said Hegg. 'I beat him twice and I wanted a gold medal too.
'We're into history, the first American to win a gold medal in (track) cycling. But a gold medal in skiing would be about the same. There's a lot more thrill in skiing because you can go fast and you don't have to work hard.'
Hegg began his gold medal race slowly, as he usually does, and picked up speed on the eighth lap, when he overtook Golz for good.
'I made the same mistake I usually make in the final, I started out too fast and when I realized it, it was too late,' said Golz, who, like Hegg, will compete in the team pursuit event Thursday.
'I also thought it was important to be leading so the crowd would not be so much behind him.'
Any doubts Hegg may have had about giving up skiing were erased by the gold medal and the broad smile he wore at a post-race news conference.
'When I set the world record (the Olympic outdoor pursuit record) the other day, I said I'm going to be doing this for the next 10 years,' he said.
In the second heat of the 30-kilometer points race, Switzerland's Joerg Mueller was first with one lap and 14 points, Mexico's Jose manuel Youshimatz was second with 8 points and Didier Garcia of France was third with 6 points.
