Robert de Wilde

src: c8.alamy.com

Robert de Wilde (born April 30, 1977 in Kampen) is a Dutch professional "Mid/Current School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1990-2003. His nicknames are "The Flying Dutchman" in reference to his speed and his nationality and "Afro-Bob" because of his long wild, uncombed hair. He was chosen for the Dutch BMX Olympic team to participate in the 2008 Summer Olympics games in Beijing, China where he reached the Quarter Finals.

Video Robert de Wilde

Racing career milestones

Started Racing: 1982 at the age of five years. A friend got him into it.

Sanctioning Body:

First race result:

First win (local):

First sponsor:

First national win:

Turned Professional: January 1999 at the age of 21 years. During 1999 and prior de Wilde was one of only three total pros Europe ever had (Dylan Clayton and Wilco Groenendaal were the other two) due to the nature of racing rules with the European sanctioning bodies at the time, which did not permit a full pro class in which an unlimited amount of money can be earned by the racer at a race.

First Professional race result (Netherlands/Europe):

First Professional race result (US):

First Professional win (Netherlands/Europe):

First Professional win (US):

First Junior Pro* win (Netherlands/Europe):

First Junior Pro* win (US):

First Senior Pro** race result (Netherlands/Europe):

First Senior Pro** race result (US):

First Senior Pro win (Netherlands/Europe):

First Senior Pro win (US):

Retired: Still active.

Height & weight at height of his career (1999-2006): Ht:6'2" Wt:215 lbs.

Career factory and major bike shop sponsors

Amateur/Junior Men

• GT (Gary Turner) Bicycles (European Division)/Chevy: January 1994 -October 2001. De Wilde would turn pro (at least in the US) with this sponsor.

Professional/Elite Men

• GT Bicycles(European Division)/Chevy: January 1994-October 2001
• Giant Bicycles: Late December 2001- De Wilde's public debut on the new Giant team was the 2001 NBL Christmas Classic national on December 27, 2001.
• Staats Bicycles/Troy Lee Designs/Maxxis: January 2004-June 27, 2006. De Wilde says in his blog he left Staats the Tuesday before the NBL Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania nationals.
• Troy Lee Designs/Maxxis July 1, 2006 - October 3, 2006. Troy Lee Designs and Maxxis were his primary sponsors between Staats and Redline.
• Redline Bicycles/Troy Lee Designs/Maxxis: October 3, 2006-Present. De Wilde is under contract with Redline Bicycles (now owned by the Accell Group, a Dutch company) through 2008 and will race the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China sponsored by Redline.

Career bicycle motocross titles

Amateur/Junior Men

• 1990,'92,'93,'94,'95,'98 Dutch National champion.

Koninklijke Nederlandsche Wielren Unie (KNWU)

Nederlandse Fietscross Federatie (NFF)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

• None

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

• 1995, 1999 World Cup Champion

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

• None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*

• 1993 16 boys World Champion
• 1994 17 Junior Bronze Medal World Champion

Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*

Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*

• 1995 Junior Men World Cup Champion

Professional/Elite Men

Koninklijke Nederlandsche Wielren Unie (KNWU)

Nederlandse Fietscross Federatie (NFF)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

• 2001 "AA" Pro World Champion

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

• None

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*

• None

Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*

• None

Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*

• 1999 Elite Men World Champion
• 1999 Elite Men World Cup Champion
• 1999 Elite Men European Champion
• 2000 Elite Men European Champion
• 2005 Elite Men Supercross Champion
• 2005 Elite Men Pan Pacific Champion
• 2007 20" UCi Series Champion

International Olympic Committee (IOC)

Games of the XXIX Olympiad (2008 Summer Olympics)

Dutch National BMX Teammates: Rob van den Wildenberg, Raymon van der Biezen, Lieke Klaus.

Location: Beijing, China

Number of competitors: 32

Positions:

Event Results Wednesday August 20

Men's First Seeding Run?: 36.803sec.

Men's Second Seeding Run: 50.268sec.

Seconds behind leader: +1.111 (23rd place).

Seeding Run leader: Mike Day  United States

De Wilde advances to Quarterfinals+

Men's Quarter Finals (Overall after three motos of Run 3): 7th place; did not qualify for Semi Final*.

Event Results Thursday August 21

Postponed due to rain. Rescheduled.

Event Results Friday August 22

Men's Semi Finals*: DNQ

Men's Final (Medal Round): DNQ

Bronze medal winner: Donny Robinson  United States

Silver medal winner: Mike Day  United States

Gold medal winner:** M?ris ?trombergs  Latvia

Independent Invitationals and Pro Series Championships

Notable accolades

Significant injuries

• Broke elbow at the UCI World Championships in Louisville, Kentucky in July 2001. He crashed on the second jump in the first straight being laid up, he missed the X-Games as a result.
• Broke collar bone at the UCI World Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil on the weekend of July 30, 2006

Racing traits and habits

• Doesn't comb or at least mat down his hair after he removes his helmet, resulting in a phenomenon called "helmet/hat hair" in which the hair on a person's head becomes either severely tussled or conversely molded into the shape of the headwear after wearing that headwear for an extended period of time. De Wilde's habit of not attending to hair care after removing his helmet and it being severely tussled as a result led to his moniker of "Afro Bob", a reference to the "Afro" style of "hairdo" that was popular with people of African descent, particularly during the 1970s (it has made something of a comeback in recent years). Image of his hair

Miscellaneous

Maps Robert de Wilde

Post BMX career

src: www.robdewilde.nl

BMX press magazine interviews and articles

• "Robert de Wilde" Transworld BMX April 2003 Vol.10 Iss.4 No.78 pg.70

src: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com

BMX magazine covers

Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:

• None

Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:

• None

BMX Plus!:

Total BMX:

• None

Bicycles and Dirt:

• None

Snap BMX Magazine & Transworld BMX:

Moto Mag:

• None

BMX World:

• August/September 2006 Vol.1 Iss.5 (77) ahead of Kyle Bennett (67) Jerrett Kolich (198) and Greg Romero (100)

Bicycles Today & BMX Today (The official NBL publication under two names):

ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer (The official ABA publication under three names):

src: c.o0bg.com

See also

• List of Dutch Olympic cyclists

src: i.pinimg.com

Notes

src: breakingintostartups.com

External links

• The American Bicycle Association (ABA) Website.
• The National Bicycle League (NBL) Website.
• The Dutch sanctioning body Nederlandse Fietscross Federatie (NFF) Website.
• The Dutch sanctioning body Koninklijke Nederlandsche Wielren Unie (KNWU) Website.
• "BMX and More!!", a Dutch English/Dutch language BMX News site.
• Maxxis racer profile.
• Robert de Wilde's personal Website.
• EXPN.com mini bio.

Source of the article : Wikipedia