Name Michael Hiltner | ||
Born March 7, 1941 (age 83)
Los Angeles, California, United States ( 1941-03-07 ) | ||
Michael hiltner nat geo eyewitness war ep 1
Michael Hiltner (born March 7, 1941) is an American former cyclist. He competed in the individual road race and 100 km team time trial at the 1960 and the 1964 Summer Olympics with the best result of 11th place with the team in 1960. After the 1960 Olympics, he stayed in Italy with Lars Zebroski, riding for an Italian amateur team. He won four races in Toscano in 1961, but was not recruited as a professional, and returned to the U.S. He then participated in the 1961 and 1962 World Championships, and won a team silver medal at the 1963 Pan American Games in São Paulo, Brazil. At those games he met Neida Marchena, a Brazilian telephone operator. Although they did not speak each other's language, they became engaged the same year, and married shortly after that.
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In 1965 Hiltner won the national road race and hill climb titles. The same year he took part in the world championships in Spain, and stayed with his wife in Europe through 1967. In 1975 he set a record in double transcontinental crossing at 36 days and 8 hours, riding from Santa Monica, California to Atlantic City, New Jersey and back. After that he worked as a designer of clothing, coin art and mountain bikes. In 2001 he was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame.