ROTOR, Olympic Games and their story
Metal gets metal. At least for ROTOR. Our aluminum cranksets have made every turn necessary to climb to the top of the Olympic Games podium. And not just once. This love affair with the highest level sport began at the London Games in 2012 and has continued right through to a few weeks ago with the bronze medal achieved by David Valero in the mountain bike event.
If there is an Olympics, there is a medal
Since the 2012 Olympic Games in London, ROTOR has always achieved a medal in all of the Olympic games that have been held since then. And that is something that makes us proud, since at ROTOR we try to compete with the rest of the manufacturers with the maximum technology, but it is not easy due to the number of athletes who compete with other brands, compared to those who use ROTOR. A small brand, competing with the big ones, to do great things.
In addition, the medal list has an extra value due to the 3 golds won (plus 1 silver and 2 bronzes) and because the American cyclist Kristin Armstrong is the only athlete in history to get 3 gold medals in cycling.
TOKYO 2020:
David Valero (Spain). Bronze in MTB.
RIO 2016:
Kristin Armstrong (USA). Gold in time trial
Carlos Coloma (Spain). Bronze in MTB.
LONDON 2012:
Marianne Vos (Holland). Gold in road cycling.
Kristin Armstrong (USA). Gold in time trial.
Lizzie Armitstead Great Britain). Silver in road cycling.
The success of Q RINGS® and new ROTOR technologies
A very interesting fact to add to the list of ROTOR athletes is that all the Olympic medals that have been achieved with ROTOR components, were won using oval chainrings with Q RINGS® technology, with the exception of the last one by David Valero. David was the first ROTOR sponsored cyclist to achieve an Olympic medal using KAPIC Carbon cranks.
In addition to the Q RINGS® chainrings, most of these athletes have used ROTOR cranks, such as Lizzie Armitstead who used ROTOR 3D + cranks to get her silver in London 2012, or our beloved Carlos Coloma, who took bronze in Rio using ROTOR REX cranks.
An Olympic evolution
The curious thing about the triumphs in the Olympics by the ROTOR athletes is that they have evolved along with our components, all while we have been able to offer them the best technology. First starting with the Q RINGS® chainrings on 6 occasions, to continue with the 3D + and REX cranks and to finish this year with David Valero using the 2INpower power meter.
ROTOR’s results at the Olympics are a total reflection of what the brand’s evolution has been in the 9 years since the London Olympic Games, when we first became known thanks to the Q RINGS® oval chainrings, to go through our CNC machined aluminum cranksets, until we reach the current technology in which we combine all these components, with the INpower and 2 INpower power meters.
Now we only have to wait 3 years for the next Olympic Games in Paris 2024, where we not only hope to continue winning medals, but we will try to take the ROTOR technology one step further to help all our athletes.