{{Short description|American BMX rider}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox sportsperson | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | nationality = | residence = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1985|7|30}} | birth_place = Cedar Hills, Utah, U.S. | height = {{cvt|1.65|m|ftin|order=flip}} | weight = {{cvt|65|kg|lb|order=flip}} | country = {{USA}} | sport = Cycling | event = BMX | turnedpro = | coach = James Herrera | worlds = | regionals = | nationals = | olympics = | highestranking = | pb = | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | Women's BMX }} {{MedalCountry| {{USA}} }} {{MedalCompetition|World Championships}} {{MedalBronze | 2009 Adelaide|BMX racing}} {{MedalCompetition|World Cup}} {{MedalGold | 2008|BMX racing}} {{MedalSilver | 2013|BMX racing}} {{MedalBronze | 2009|BMX racing}} {{MedalCompetition|Pan American Games}} {{MedalSilver | 2011 Gualadajara | BMX racing}} }}
'''Arielle Martin''' (aka Arielle Verhaaren; born July 30, 1985) is an American BMX cyclist.<ref>[http://www.active.com/actionsports/Articles/Arielle_Martin_Races_Toward_Beijing.htm Arielle Martin Races Toward Beijing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517063104/http://www.active.com/actionsports/Articles/Arielle_Martin_Races_Toward_Beijing.htm |date=2008-05-17 }}. Active.com (2008-04-24). Retrieved on 2012-08-19.</ref>
She crashed in the quarter-finals at the World Championships held in Taiyuan, China, on June 2, 2008, with the result that Jill Kintner, her friend and roommate at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, finished in sixth place, which was enough to guarantee Jill the only automatic women's spot on the US BMX Olympic Team. USA Cycling has a 17-race points series, and Jill had 129 points to Martin's 128. Kintner made up and went beyond a 13-point deficit with her sixth place and Martin's crash, became the one US Women's representative in the BMX racing event, and received a bronze medal, a medal she says was half won by Martin, who, after crashing, returned to the training center to help Kintner train.<ref>[http://www.fatbmx.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4753 Jill Kintner makes the US Olympic Team! – Race – News] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710230928/http://www.fatbmx.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4753 |date=2011-07-10 }}. Fat Bmx (2008-06-04). Retrieved on 2012-08-19.</ref> The two say that living together in the training center just made them able to push each other, as they remained neck and neck until Martin's accident.<ref>[http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/kyle-bennett-jill-kintner-win-usa-bmx-nationals-15390 Kyle Bennett, Jill Kintner Win USA BMX Nationals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022104631/http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/kyle-bennett-jill-kintner-win-usa-bmx-nationals-15390/ |date=2016-10-22 }}. BikeRadar (2008-03-30). Retrieved on 2012-08-19.</ref> They had worked so hard together that Kintner characterized her win as bittersweet, at first more bitter than sweet.<ref>[http://expn.go.com/expn/story?id=3423935 ESPN Action Sports: The Worldwide Leader In Action Sports]. Expn.go.com. Retrieved on 2012-08-19.</ref>
Martin finished a degree in exercise science in 2007 at Brigham Young University. She was married in December 2007 to Michael Verhaaren and has taken his name except for when she is involved in bike competitions. They left their Utah home on separate missions, she to train for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and he to spend a year deployed in Afghanistan with the US Army.<ref name="nytimes.com">Greg Bishop (2008-04-30). [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/sports/othersports/30bmx.html Quests Separate Soldier and Olympic Hopeful]. New York Times.</ref>
Martin's father was a BMX racer. As a young girl, she watched him, then started riding a BMX bike at the age of two. At 15 she turned pro and in October 2007, became the third woman in the world to do a backflip on a BMX bike.<ref name="nytimes.com" /> Martin has said that missing the Beijing Olympics made her more determined than ever to remain at the top in BMX and to compete at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.<ref>Michael C. Lewis (2008-08-22) [http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_10274362 Utah Local News – Salt Lake City News, Sports, Archive – The Salt Lake Tribune] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604162115/http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_10274362 |date=June 4, 2011 }}. Sltrib.com. Retrieved on 2012-08-19.</ref> Martin was selected to compete at the London 2012 Olympics but a crash during a training run on July 30 in California, hospitalized her and left her out of the team, being replaced by Brooke Crain.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmoGDLCC3Do]. Information in the description. (2013-10-19)</ref>
Martin is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20131021193254/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765587894/15-LDS-athletes-qualify-for-Olympics.html?s_cid=Email-4 16 LDS athletes qualify for Olympics]. Deseret News (2012-07-05). Retrieved on 2012-08-19.</ref>
== References == {{reflist}} * http://london2012.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/2008-crash-taught-bmx-cyclist-about-humility/?_r=0 * http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/sltrib/sports/54464470-77/martin-bmx-olympics-beijing.html.csp * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUFDHDXIaZk * http://www.espn.com/action/bmx/story/_/id/8227925/team-usa-bmx-rider-arielle-martin-olympic-dream-crushed-second-time * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHUDzG42Fyk * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHUDzG42Fyk * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_acJPqVVe8 * http://health.abc4.com/articles/1924/Crash-and-Bloom
==External links== * {{UCI BMX rider}} * {{The-Sports}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Arielle}} Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:American female cyclists Category:American BMX riders Category:Cyclists at the 2011 Pan American Games Category:Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Category:Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in cycling Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah Category:Brigham Young University alumni Category:21st-century American sportswomen