BEIJING: World champion Maris Strombergs of Latvia won the men's BMX gold Friday, sweeping to the front at the start of the winner-take-all final and never losing control in the sport's first-ever Olympic finals.
The French duo of Anne-Caroline Chausson and Laetitia Le Corguille took gold and silver, respectively, in the women's title race.
"It wasn't easy," said Chausson. "All the mistakes I've made in the last few races, in the last few years, I tried to show nothing of them in these games."
"It's really the work of two years to end up here. It's an immense satisfaction to get to here," said Chausson, 30, after what she has said will be her last competitive BMX race.
BMX racing was born in the United States four decades ago, so perhaps it was fitting that on the sport's biggest day, American racers collected the biggest medal haul.
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When Shanaze Reade crashed and recorded the slowest time in her first seeding race in the women's BMX event today it seemed that the 19-year-old from Crewe might struggle to live up to her status as the favourite.
By the time she had finished her second run the twice world champion was looking more like the rider who has taken the sport by storm in recent years. The semi-finals taking place at 2am (BST) tomorrow, followed by the final 90 minutes later.
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This feat is experimental in many ways -- from the construction of the ramp, to the speed it will take to break the record, the g-forces on his body and ultimately what will happen when Kevin leaves the top of the ramp for the first time. Will he come back to earth safe? Will he own the world record?
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For more information including web teaser and poster art visit: www.redbullexperiment.com
SUPERSTAR David Beckham is more used to people waiting for him than the other way round.
But the footballer was kept on hold for 40 minutes as he waited to wish a speedy recovery to a paralysed BMX dirt rider.
Beckham was at the extreme action sports event the X Games in Los Angeles when a short documentary was shown on the big screen about Stephen Murray’s accident.
Stephen, who grew up in North Shields, suffered serious spinal injuries while attempting a double back flip on his bike during a competition in America last year.
He was left paralysed from the neck down but has vowed to walk again.
His plight touched Beckham so much, he got Stephen’s contact details and rang him up in a hospital in Baltimore to wish him well. But the star had to wait 40 minutes to pass on his best wishes.
When BMX was added to the Olympic calendar for the Beijing Olympics, some riders felt like they won the lottery. For new sports, the Olympics generally mean more attention, more money for training, more prestige.
For Jill Kintner, the news got little more than a shrug. She had raced on the bicycle-motocross pro circuit since she was a teenager at Kirkland's Juanita High; she won a world title in 2002. But now she gets her adrenaline charge, and a top world ranking, from mountaincross, racing mountain bikes downhill on an obstacle-strewn course.
