Mountain biking was introduced as an Olympic discipline for the 1996 Games. The two strongest women, Kathy Lynch and Mary Grigson, gained New Zealand two qualifying positions for the Olympics; no New Zealand men qualified. Grigson accepted an offer to race for Australia—she competed for them at the Olympics in 1996 and 2000—and left New Zealand, so the New Zealand Mountain Bike Association decided to nominate just one competitor for the New Zealand Olympic team.