DEMOREST — Two-time Olympian Jame Carney will direct the new intercollegiate cycling teams at Piedmont College in Demorest.
Lions athletic director Jim Peeples announced on Tuesday Carney’s selection as head coach for the men’s and women’s cycling teams, which will begin competition in the fall of 2016.
Originally from Detroit, Carney began competitive cycling at age 8 and was a member of the U.S. Olympic teams in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain, and again in 2000 in Sydney, Australia, where he finished fifth in the Points Race. He was also a three-time Pan Am Games medalist and a two-time World Cup Champion. Carney finished first in the Union Cycliste Internationale Track World Cup scratch race in 2005, and he won his 22nd national title at the 2012 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships at age 43.
In addition to his competition experience, Carney brings extensive coaching knowledge to Piedmont, having worked with Olympic, professional, and World and Junior World teams. In 2008, Carney directed the Cheerwine Women's Professional Cycling Team to the National Racing Calendar overall team title. Most recently he served as tactical track coach for USA Cycling at the 2015 Pan Am Championships and World Cup.
Carney, who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in exercise science with a coaching concentration in 2004 from Fort Lewis College, also serves as an athlete representative on the Board of Directors for USA Cycling, which identifies and trains cyclists to represent the U.S. in international competition.
In its inaugural season the teams will compete in three types of men’s and women’s cycling, including road racing, mountain biking, and cyclocross.
“The selection of Coach Carney brings one of the best known names in cycling to our program and will provide immediate worldwide recognition for this new sport,” Peeples said.
