Phinney the Phenom Powers into Olympic Cycling on an Important Day for His Dad

Posted April 6, 2008 at 09:00 AM by Scott L. Place

Section: Beijing 2008, Culture/History, Human Interest, Events, Cycling/BMX, Featured Writers, Scott L. Place

His father, Davis Phinney, was one of the most fearsome sprinters in the early days of American professional cycling. He was the first American to win a stage of the Tour de France in 1986, had more wins (328) than any other American cyclist and an Olympic bronze medal. His mother, Connie Carpenter-Phinney was an Olympic gold medalist in the 1984 games. Not a bad genetic pool to be born into as a cyclist.

Taylor had only shown a bit of interest in the sport until he went to the 2005 Tour de France and met a friend of his dad’s. A guy named Armstrong. At the age of 15 Taylor thought he might give the sport a try. Fast forward, literally, almost 3 years and the 17 year old high school senior is the world U-23 world time trial champion and as of yesterday a US Olympian. He seems to have been gifted his father’s blazing speed and his mother’s endurance. He’s also a humble classy kid fans of the sport are going to be proud to watch in Beijing and as a professional.

Making the Olympic team might be the second most important thing that happened in his life yesterday. Davis was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2000 at the age of 40.  Yesterday surgeons at Stanford University Medical Center embedded two wires in a section of Davis Phinney’s brain in a 4 ½ hour procedure. The Phinney family found out his surgery was performed without complications. The hope is that some of his Parkinson’s symptoms will get better immediately and over time as doctors attach a pacemaker to the wires.

Taylor is an amazing athlete from an Olympic family that also manages to run a foundation that raises money for to fight Parkinson’s-the Davis Phinney Foundation. In a world that seems to emphasize the dysfunctional, it’s nice to see a family that gracefully manages tremendous demands and who are very close. The joy of Davis screaming in the video of Taylor’s win at the time trial championship is no doubt matched by Taylor’s at the results of his dad’s surgery.