 Hesjedal began his career competing as a mountain bike cyclist, with initial success as a two-time world champion in the mountain bike relay event in both 2001 and 2002.He won silver as an individual at the 2003 world mountain biking championships and competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics for Canada in the mountain bike category.At those games, Hesjedal was on his way to an Olympic medal and likely a gold medal before a sharp rock cut and flattened his tire, ending that Olympic dream.