BMX, not just for kids anymore. It’s Olympic baby!

18. Aug, 2008 Comments Off

Okay, so yet another Olympics related post. BMX racing is not only a nostalgic part of childhood for us Gen X’ers and Y’ers, its the newest sport to be added to the Olympics – making its debut this week in Beijing.

I really wouldn’t be surprised that the so-far-terrible Channel 7 Olympic coverage to completely ignore this sport – but they really shouldn’t. Why? because we have 5 Australians competing in the BMX events.

We’re hoping to see Jared Graves (who came 2nd in the 2008 World BMX Supercross) and probably-not-his-birthname, Kamikazi (who was a semi-finalist in the 2008 BMX World Championship) make it into the finals. In which case we are almost guaranteed some live coverage on TV. And not to mention we’d love to see them thrash the Americans, who are expected to dominate the in these BMX events. Shanaze Reade from England is also tipped for the gold medal.

So if you are interested, the following is the schedule for the BMX semi finals and finals. They all take place around midday, this Wednesday.

BMX Women’s Semifinals Run 1
11:00 AM EST, 21/08 BMX Venue

BMX Men’s Semifinals Run 1
11:08 AM EST, 21/08 BMX Venue

BMX Women’s Final Run
12:30 PM EST, 21/08 BMX Venue

BMX Men’s Final Run
12:40 PM EST, 21/08 BMX Venue

Three YouTube videos and also a look at the track design after the jump.

link Olympic BMX article from The Guardian

Short documentary video on Australian team preparing for the Olympics