BMX Event
Olympic BMX racing
Olympic BMX racing is the eight-rider sprint race on a dirt and asphalt track that has been part of the Summer Olympic Games since Beijing 2008.
Updated 3 min read723 words
Olympic BMX racing is the BMX race event at the Summer Olympic Games. Eight riders at a time sprint from a gate at the top of a start hill around a track of jumps and banked turns, and the first to the finish line wins. It joined the Olympic programme at Beijing 2008 and has been held at every Games since, with one men's and one women's event. It is the highest-profile race in the sport and the main target for national racing programmes.
History
BMX racing began in southern California in the early 1970s, when children raced their bikes on dirt tracks in imitation of motocross. The story of those early years is covered in Origins of BMX. Racing grew quickly, with national sanctioning bodies in the United States and Europe and the first world championships in the early 1980s. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) took over the sport's international governance in the 1990s, which opened the door to Olympic recognition.
The International Olympic Committee added BMX racing to the programme in 2003, with a debut set for Beijing 2008. It replaced two track cycling events, which caused some controversy within cycling at the time. The Beijing track was built in the Laoshan area and featured an eight metre high start hill for the men.
Māris Štrombergs of Latvia won the first men's gold medal, and Anne-Caroline Chausson of France, already a many-time mountain bike downhill world champion, won the women's. Štrombergs defended his title at London 2012. Mariana Pajón of Colombia won the women's event in 2012 and again in 2016, making her the most successful rider in the event's short history. Later Games have seen the titles spread across many nations, including Australian success in the women's event at Paris 2024.
Format
The Olympic format follows UCI rules and compresses an entire race meeting into a short programme.
- Time trial seeding. Each rider completes a solo timed lap. The results seed the riders into heats and set gate positions.
- Quarter-finals (men) and semi-finals. Riders race in groups of eight over three runs. Points are awarded by finishing position in each run, and the lowest totals progress. Gate positions rotate between runs so no rider has the inside line every time.
- Final. A single eight-rider race decides the medals.
Tracks are between roughly 300 and 400 metres long and built from compacted dirt with asphalt in the turns. They include a tall start hill, a first straight with a large step-up or double jump, three or four banked turns (berms) and several straights of rhythm sections and jumps. Olympic tracks are built to a higher and faster standard than most club tracks, and the start hills in particular are steeper than riders see elsewhere.
Bikes are 20 inch wheeled race bikes with a single gear, one rear brake and no pegs or other freestyle parts. Riders wear full-face helmets and body armour.
Notable moments
- Štrombergs became the first Olympic champion in 2008 and the only rider to win two Olympic BMX titles when he repeated at London 2012.
- Chausson's 2008 win capped a career that had already included more than a dozen downhill mountain bike world titles.
- Pajón's back-to-back wins in 2012 and 2016 made her a national hero in Colombia and the face of the sport for much of the decade.
- Crashes in the final have decided medals on more than one occasion. The format's single-run final means there is no second chance, and pile-ups in the first turn are common.
Significance
Olympic status changed BMX racing from a sport largely run by families and clubs into one with national federation funding, high-performance programmes and full-time professional athletes. Countries such as Australia, the Netherlands, France, Great Britain, Colombia and the United States built dedicated supercross tracks and training centres in the years after 2008. The Australian story is covered in BMX in Australia.
Racing's Olympic inclusion also set the template for freestyle. The UCI's role as governing body, and the success of racing in Beijing and London, were part of the case that led to BMX freestyle park joining the programme for Tokyo 2020.
For racers, an Olympic medal now sits alongside the rainbow jersey of the UCI World Championships as the sport's highest honour.
Related
Frequently asked questions about Olympic BMX racing
Who won the first Olympic BMX gold medals?
Māris Štrombergs of Latvia won the men's race and Anne-Caroline Chausson of France won the women's race at Beijing 2008.
How long is an Olympic BMX race?
Tracks are roughly 300 to 400 metres long and a race lasts well under a minute. Riders start together from a gate at the top of a steep start hill and the first across the line wins.
Is Olympic BMX racing the same as BMX freestyle?
No. Racing is a timed head-to-head sprint on a track with jumps and berms. Freestyle park is a judged trick event. Both are in the Olympics but they are separate disciplines with different bikes and riders.
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