Juliana "Juli" Furtado (born April 4, 1967 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) is a retired

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

professional

mountain biker Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

, who began her

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

. After knee injuries dashed her hopes of ski success, she took up cycling and won the US National Road Championship, and then went on to be very successful at mountain bike events - during her short 6-year career in MTB Furtado won five national titles and represented her country at the Olympics.

Early life

Born on April 4, 1967, her father's parents were Portuguese from São Miguel Island. She started skiing at age two, and racing at age 9 after her family moved to

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, where Furtado attended the

Stratton Mountain School The Stratton Mountain School is a college preparatory high school located at Stratton Mountain in Stratton, Vermont. The school was founded in 1972 by Warren Hellman and Donald Tarinelli. The current headmaster is Carson Thurber. Stratton Mount ...

. At age 15 she became the youngest member of the U.S.

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ski team, for which she competed from 1982 to 1987. After undergoing several knee operations, Furtado's hopes of competing in the Olympics were forced to an end, and she attended

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

on a skiing scholarship, where she received her BA in Marketing. While racing for CU her knee injuries forced her to retire from competitive skiing, and Juliana switched to cycling.

Cycling

In 1989, her first year competing, Furtado won the US National Road Championship. She was then introduced to mountain biking, and 1990, again her first year competing, she won the

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event in (along with

Ned Overend Edmund ("Ned") Overend (born 20 August 1955) is an American former professional cross-country mountain bike racer. He is a six-time NORBA cross-country mountain bike national champion who became the first-ever cross-country world champion by win ...

) the first official

Mountain Bike World Championship The UCI Mountain Bike World Championships are the world championship events for mountain bike racing in the disciplines of cross country, downhill, and four-cross. They are organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing b ...

, held in

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. In 1992 she won the

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world championship. In 1996, Furtado won both the World Cup (her 3rd WC championship) and the NORBA (U.S. National race authority) cross-country championships. She also participated in the Atlanta Olympics. Unfortunately, though she was the overwhelming favorite to win, she suffered in the severe Atlanta sun and heat due to the as yet undetected

Lupus Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Comm ...

in her system, and finished with an uncharacteristically slow 7th place. Soon after her Lupus was diagnosed,"Interview: Juli Furtado mountain biker, aka ‘The Queen’"
, 20th June 2013, Aoife Glass, totalwomenscycling.com and again Furtado was forced into early retirement from her sport due to physical conditions. Her disease is currently under control and she still rides solo.

Women's bikes

After retiring, Furtado started a company to design and produce female specific MTB components, such as smaller diameter handlebars and grips, stems, and seats. Her designs were eventually picked up by

Santa Cruz Bikes Santa Cruz Bicycles is a manufacturer of high end mountain bikes based in Santa Cruz, California. They sponsor the Santa Cruz Syndicate, a downhill racing team. The company moved premises from 104 Bronson Street to 2841 Mission Street in 2013 . F ...

. At the same time, Santa Cruz Bikes developed the first female specific

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

MTB called the "Juliana". Furtado became the director of grass-roots sponsorship and marketing for Santa Cruz Bicycles, in Santa Cruz,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In 2013, Furtado developed the concept for turning the single Juliana frame and associated components into a complete line of fully outfitted women's mountain bikes, which would be a first for Santa Cruz Bikes, which is primarily a frame producer. The Juliana line has 5 models comprising one of the world's largest women's MTB ranges in the industry.

Legacy

In 1998, the book "Rugged Racer" was written about Juliana's struggles and successes, overcoming injuries in her pursuit of her dream to compete in the Olympics. Despite a short MTB career of 6 years, Juliana held a Guinness World Record for most career 1st-place finishes in MTB (male or female), and at that time her career total wins even exceeded the combined total wins of the most successful man (

) and next most successful woman. She became the mother of a son in 2008, and is currently working again with the U.S.

ski team, as an advocate for retiring athletes. Furtado was inducted into the

Mountain Bike Hall of Fame The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame (MBHOF) was founded in 1988 to chronicle the history of mountain biking. Formerly located in Crested Butte, Colorado, it relocated to Fairfax, California in 2014 and became part of the Marin Museum of Bicycling. Si ...

in 1993 and the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 2005.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Furtado, Juliana 1967 births Living people American female cyclists Cross-country mountain bikers Downhill mountain bikers American people of Portuguese descent Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of the United States Sportspeople from New York City Cyclists from Vermont UCI Mountain Bike World Champions (women) Pan American Games medalists in cycling Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States American mountain bikers Cyclists at the 1995 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games People with lupus 21st-century American women Cyclists from New York (state) 20th-century American women