Missy Giove.
Photo: Silvia Otte, www.silviaotte.com
Any attempt at profile the top female riders ever would be flat out wrong not to start with Missy Giove. She’s a frikken legend. Born in 1972 and retired from racing in 2003, ‘the Missile’ was THE big name in our sport for most of the nineties. Check out this Downhill Domination profile:
Some old school magic. Missy Giove is profiled on Downhill Domination.
In an interview in 1996, she describes learning to race downhill not by developing technique step-by-step, but by going fast and crashing constantly, and then slowly learning to crash less! When you add in the other stuff about wearing a dead piranha necklace, and dead dog ashes in her bra, Missy is truly madcore. In fact her picture is right next to madcore in the dictionary.
Missy Giove doing what she does best.
Photo: Cycling News www.cyclingnews.com
Openly gay and relaxed about it, Missy says: “People expect me to be off-the-wall. My being a lesbian doesn’t really faze people. I realize that athletes look at Martina Navratilova and realize that she has lost millions in endorsements because she is openly lesbian,” she says. “I have been fortunate that discrimination has not held me back in my career”. (link to interview).
Missy Giove on the cover of Girlfriends.
Photo: Girlfriends magazine
One of the most successful downhillers ever (male or female), Missy is the all-time leader in NORBA downhill wins with 14, and is second on the World Cup list with 11. Giove’s other accomplishments include three overall NORBA downhill crowns, two World Cup overalls, and the 1994 world championship title. On top of this, she secured highly paid sponsorship contracts including Reebok, to become one of the highest paid female atheletes of all time.
Missy Giove at the height of her fame, featuring in an ad for Reebok alongside Myles Rockwell.
During her career, Missy put a lot of effort into supporting emerging women downhillers, including UK rider Fionn Griffiths and former US DH and 4x rider Melissa Buhl. However, she wasn’t always as supportive towards her fellow racers. It was widely known that she and Anne-Caro Chausson often had less than friendly competition (she talks about it in this Velonews interview). But in the public eye they were always friendly.
In June 2009 Missy Giove shocked all her longtime fans by getting busted transporting a whole load of pot. You can read the Martha Hucker news article on it by clicking here. Whether you think it was an act of stupidity to be involved in drugs in this way, or just dumb that she got caught, the jail time she’s facing is a disappointing endnote to Missy’s rockstar career. But not an entirely out of character move… I wonder how fast she was towing that trailer? And was she drifting it round the corners? Madcore to the end!
Older: Martha Hucker. News, links, videos, and how-to for women mountain bikers.
Fresher: Shooting Stars - women's DH film, on YouTube
Published on 22/10/2008 by Martha Hucker.
To bad she has wasted all of her influence and accomplishments by becoming a massive drug dealer! 400lbs and 1 million in cash!! WTF I could cry Disgrace! Missy Fail!
Waaah! pot! OMG now she's totally my hero...now thats. balls to the wall. Viva la Revolucione! I hope she fights like hell, maybe this ridiculous prohibition will end. Don't go down with the ship, girl! And don't bother sniveling about this post...I don't care what you think. You'll be talking to yourself. Everyone has a brother/sister/father/mother/cousin/uncle who smokes too much weed. "Don't use to excuse," is my motto, they'd be slackers without it.