Steve Hegg competed as a professional cyclist from the early 1980s until 2000. At the 1984 Olympics he became the first American to win gold in the individual pursuit and added a silver in the team pursuit. He had previously won gold in the team pursuit at the 1983 Pan American Games. Hegg did not start out as a cyclist but rather a downhill skiier, who started cycling as summer training for that sport. Before switching to cycling competitively, he was a four-time US skiing champion.
Shortly after the 1984 Olympics Hegg was involved in controversy when it was found that several members of the American track cycling team, including Hegg, had participated in blood doping to help enhance their performance. This was not illegal at the time, but in 1985, blood doping would be banned by the IOC. Hegg switched in the later 1980s from the track to the road, winning another Pan Am gold in the team time trial at the 1987 Pan Ams. He won the US individual time trial elite race in 1990, 1995, and 1996, and in 1994 was the US road race champion.
United States