LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - BMX crashed the London Olympics
party on Wednesday, arriving to a thumping rock and roll beat
and the thud of falling bodies.
American rider Brooke Crain and Latvia's Edzus Treimanis
provided the main thrills in the first day of action, the
capacity crowd gasping as they were flung over their handle bars
crashing face first into the gravel track.
Welcome to BMX, where the Summer Olympics and X-Games
intersect.
BMX is one of the few sports on the Summer Games programme
that might entice the younger generation to put down the video
game control for a moment and tune into some Olympic action.
With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) desperate to
keep the Games relevant and develop some "street cred", the
Winter Games have spearheaded the youth movement, steadily
upping their hip quotient with an ever-expanding list of
"extreme" disciplines, including snowboard-cross and ski cross.
The Summer Games, however, has not yet found a way to really
tap into that same youthful vibe, delicately fine-tuning its
programme with the addition of BMX at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
and little else since.
"It's bringing in a younger crowd, even the older people
watching the standard track and field events, the wrestling,
everybody loves watching this," said U.S. rider Nicolas Long,
after his seventh place finish in seeding races.
"It's exciting, there are crashes, there are people going
down, they are going super fast out there.
"A lot of people will watch the Olympics just because it
comes every four years but not so many people my age care so
much about track and field or pentathlon, they'll watch the
X-Games," Long added.
"So we bring a little different aspect to the Games."
GLADIATORIAL ARMOUR
Certainly, BMX is capable of delivering plenty of thrills
and spills.
Decked out gladiatorial style armour and motocross helmets,
the action comes fast and furious as big men and women on little
bikes hurl themselves down a ramp followed by 450 metres of
pedal-churning fury as they fly over massive jumps and
undulating series of dips known as whoop-de-doos, all the while
delivering the occasional elbow to anyone who gets too close.
There are also plenty of crashes. Some of them of the
frightening variety.
Arielle Martin lost her spot on the U.S. squad to Crain when
she crashed spectacularly during a practice session in July,
sustaining major internal injuries including a lacerated liver,
broken ribs and punctured lung.
It is all part of the show that attracted a capacity crowd
to the BMX Olympic venue.
"It's definitely our obligation to promote the sport," said
Long. "Us three riders out of the U.S., it's our job, our duty
to not only represent our country but our sport to kids around
the world, even adults."
Like triathlon, BMX is another sport invented in the United
States that Americans have yet to claim a gold medal.
In Beijing, U.S. riders claimed half of the six medals on
offer but could not reached the top step of the podium despite
investing considerable.
For the Beijing Games, the U.S. built an exact replica of
the Olympic layout at the United States Olympic Committee's
training facility in Chula Vista, California and did so again
for London using 3D mapping scanners strapped to American bikes
during a test event to get the blueprint for an identical
practice track.
"We race BMX and BMX is built out of dirt, it's never going
to be an exact replica," cautioned Alise Post, who posted the
top American result in the women's seeding races, placing
eighth.
"I think the big thing is it is dirt and no jump is built
the exact same no matter where you go even if it's the same
person building it.
"It's a different challenge her at the Olympics dealing with
the vibe and keeping calm."
(For all the latest Olympics news go to http://www.reuters.com/london-olympics-2012)