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updated 8/26 If you missed any of the TV coverage or depending on what part of the world you lived in, you may have not been able to see all the coverage. On NBCOlympics.com, you can watch all the races, including the Semis in full, just click here. All in all, it was great coverage for BMX and the world got to see the great sport. Even if it wasn't as much as it could have been on TV, it was shown world wide and many other countries saw the coverage in full and live. The rain bit into the time slot for BMX, but no matter what you got to see, you did see something and BMX has taken a huge step in the right direction. 2012 will more than likely be indoor, so there will be no rain delays and the BMX race will get a lot more coverage, as NBC has already talked about the huge ratings BMX got. Next up for BMX on Tv will be BMX Supercross as the Dew Tour in salt Lake city in a few weeks, so look for BMX on NBC once again. Olympic Champions
As you know by now, the race is over and congrats go out to ACC and Maris. It was some of the best race action for quite some time and the Men's main event was so crazy. Mike Day looked to be out front for the start, then Maris took over into turn one. Turn one was a crazy spot in a lot of other races but it the main event, it was clean. Mike looked to pull up on Strombergs down the 2nd strait, but he cut over on Day and he had to shut down just a little. Mike and Donny rode great and the 2 medals for the team was huge. Jill K rode solid all day and when it came down to being in the right place to capitalize, she was there and in for the Bronze. The USA had a party for them and the USA Gold winning men's and women's Volleyball team last night, and it was cool to see BMX get the spotlight and reorganization it deserves.
Cristian and Kyle both rode strong and just missed out in each of their semis, finishing 5th overall. Kyle was feeling ok, after his crash but came back and did the best he could. Ok, its 5:20 am and we are at the track. Its dry, the sun is just rising , and the race will happen today. Tom Ritz and Matti are out on the track with the 50 helpers getting it ready for the race. There are a few wet spots, but with the blow torches, yes I said blow torches and raking and packing going on, the track will be in mint condition when its time for practice. Practice starts at 8am and the race starts at 9am.
Well fans, as you know the rains came and the race will be delayed by one day. We were just out at the track and it is all good and the rain is done for the day, there are a few wet spots, but they will be all gone by race time, 9 am tomorrow. So the race will happen in its entirety at the same time, just on the 22nd here in Beijing, so it should be the same time schedule in the USA, just one day off. I spoke with Kyle today and he is sore, but it was a blessing in disguise for him and team USA for the rain today. It is also good, that the rain has pushed back the MTB race by one day, giving BMX even more time on TV. The will be showing the rest of the event all on Live TV. NBC has already been super excited about the coverage and the amount of viewers, so BMX is getting a huge shot in the arm and getting to be seen by so many viewers, that it will be the best thing ever for BMX.
Today was the time trails and quarterfinals. It was so exciting to finally see race action after being here for 5 days. The rider of the day was Mike Day. Time Trail Win as well as 3 1/4 race wins, puts him up as the favorite already. Mikey has just turned it on, like at the Olympic Trials event and looks to have the eye on the prize. Kyle and Cristian both made it to the semi, but both had some bad luck. Cristian had a great 1st moto but in the 2nd round, he finished up near the back. 3rd moto he was back and into the semi. Kyle looked good, with a 2nd in the first round, a 4th in the 2nd, but it all went horribly wrong in the 3rd round, when he was in 2nd and the rider in front crashed in the 1st turn, leaving Kyle no where to go but down as well. Kyle popped his shoulder out as well as tore both his hands up and his knees. He was down for a bit in turn one, but got up on his own, sat up and then rode out the rest of the lap. I visited him afterwards in the team area, and he was pretty banged up and bummed, but he will be suited up on Thursday morning and ready to race. It looks as if a rain storm is on its way here and due to the live TV coverage, if it rains and puts the race on hold past the TV show time, they will more than likely push the race back to Friday morning. On the women's side, there was drama, as both Ann Caroline Chausson and Shanaze Reade crashed in a time trail, but they would wind up 1st and 2nd overall. Jill Kintner ride solid and finished up 7th overall and looks like she can be a medal contender come race day. Sarah Walker also looked good, as did Laetitia le Corguille. Hopefully the race will go down tomorrow and we will have updates for you as soon as we can. There will be a ton of coverage all over the web and TV, as there is 100's of media and TV crews here to get the info. Men's Semi 1 Mike Day, USA Men's Semi 2 Jared Graves, AUS Women's Semi 1 Anne-Caroline Chausson, FRA Women's Semi 2 Shanaze Reade, GBR Today is day 2 of Practice is now over- Here are some shots of the riders. So far Practice has run super smooth and there has not been 1 crash on the track. The Elite men have just started their 2nd round of practice and this is the last practice before the time trails start. Everyone looks really good, but no one is really doing full laps, so Javi, I cant tell you who is pulling. As this is the last round of practice, its pretty wide open on the track, as many riders finished after this mornings first round and are not here. Its 2:15 pm on Tuesday (11:14pm Los Angeles time). The race action kicks off tomorrow at 8am and will be live in the USA on the East Coast at 7pm. Other than the Olympics, this will be the first time a BMX race has been shown Live world wide. Expect some great things and coverage from the NBC crew, as I will be lending a hand with the coverage and interview information for the NBC crew. Marty Snider from NBC was here doing intros and gathering information on the track and the riders, and Kenhan Harkin will be doing the live show as well. Marty is on the top guys on the NASCAR scene and always has all the info, so he he asked all the right questions and got a quick grasp on BMX and the event. Speaking of Media, there were over 100 journalists out here asking all the riders all types of questions. The journalist have done their research, as all the questions were spot on and insightful. There are many countries here doing their own TV feeds as well and there are a lot of countries here that don't even have a solid BMX program in place, and there hopes are to build up BMX. This will be a great thing for the sport overall. The riders also did Press Conferences and they were 100% pro. The sports is in the spotlight and its looking to take off!
Kyle, Donny, and Mikey all looked smooth as can be on the track, but 75% of the riders did here as well. Day 1 of practice is in the books and so far the racers are already dialed. The track looks so incredible and the surroundings give the place such a great feel.
The feeling of the whole event changed on Sunday when they put up the graphic onto the Starting gate. From this moment on, it has hit everyone here that this is the Olympics. Sunday- I am about to head over to the BMX track. Tomorrow practice starts, so all the riders are getting anxious. I will get to go to the Olympic Village in the afternoon, as practice is just until noon, so that will be a great and I will sure get a lot of photos. Saturday- Not much going on at the BMX track, as the guys really got it all wired. Got to spend some time with Jamie Staff today. It was cool to see him again, as I have not for about a year. Jamie has been prepping for the Games and his win was well earned. Jamie was mobbed all the time we were at the Velodrome, and when he would show anyone his gold medal, everyone in the place wanted a photo with him. You wont find a nicer guy than Jamie, so its perfect that he won.
One of the few times the fans were not all over Jamie. This is the BMX take of the Olympic Rings. This is just at the base of the backside of the BMX track.
On Saturday night, Track and Field was taking place and we headed over to it at the Birds Nest. It was an incredible sight to see at night and the roars that came from the fans was like nothing I have ever heard before. Wait till the fans see BMX for the first time, they will for sure go nuts.
Jamie had his Medal with him, so I guessed this may be my only chance I may ever see one, let alone get to wear it. Thursday & Friday -Arrived in Beijing- On Thursday, the USA BMX Olympic team arrived in Beijing. Exiting the plane, the team was met by a camera crew and followed them throughout the airport. Seemed funny to see a camera crew film dR, Day, Bennett, and kintner while they waited for their bags, but the fans love the USA BMX racers. In Baggage claim the team was met by the USA Olympic team coordinator and he had a crew gather up the teams luggage and get them set to go to the Olympic Village, where they would be staying for the next 12 days.
It was raining when I got outside pretty bad. its a good and bad thing. THe good, the smog would be gone for the next few days and really help the riders get used to the air quality change. As of when I write this, Saturday at 1pm, its still very clear out and looks like a typical day in Los Angeles, nothing too bad. The bad, the track would be getting doused and rain and Supercross tracks do not mix well at all. I arrived at my hotel and met up with the top UCI BMX guys, Johan and Matti. There are 2 really great guys and have done a lot to help the sport get into BMX and are the ones who get things done at the Supercross events and here. They got a 3/4 day of work due to the rain, but since they spend 12 hour days at the track getting it prepped, they are ok with that, but don't look forward to the next day to see what the rain has done. We get rested up a little and then headed out to China's finest authentic dinner, The Hard Rock Cafe.?. Oh well, I guess we will ease into the Chinese food. We ate with Keenan Harken, Mike Redman, and Tom Ritz. After dinner we headed back to the Hotel to get some much needed sleep. Friday I awoke to see the sun and clear skies. A great sight indeed. The USA team was in the Olympic Village and had to get use to their new surroundings. The Village is all set up for the athletes so they have everything they should need without having to travel very far. Great food 24 hours a day, gyms, movies, and much more to do. Every athlete in the games stays in the Village and Team USA all stays in the same area, so it wont be unheard of for Kyle and LeBron James to have dinner together. The biggest thing about the Olympics that everyone needs to get use to is the high security. You need credentials to get in just about everywhere and without them, your not getting in anywhere.
The Wall of passes needed to get in to The entrance of the BMX race.
You hear a lot of the Birds nest, but you don't hear much of the Olympic Basketball Stadium. Its one of the coolest looking arenas you will ever see. Its heard to tell from the photo, but it looks as if its built with 2 x 4's. This is just next to the Baseball stadium and its on the way to the BMX Track. The Water cube is another great arena and the night time view of it are just plain awesome.
Once I got to the track, it took a while for me to get in, but after 30 min's, I was. I was here last year for the Test Event and the arena looks very similar, with some very nice new upgrades, Olympic banners, and some slight changes to the track. The rain took its toll on the track a bit, but Tom Ritz had his crew of 50 working on it, and getting rid of the mud, resurfacing the 3rd turn, and getting it smooth and ready for the race action.
I lent a hand in the track prep by sitting in a golf cart while Matti drove and smoothed out the track. There is so much prep that goes on before a normal BMX race and then it gets intensified for a UCI Supercross, but when it comes to the Olympics, there is nothing that will not be 100% perfect and ready for practice on Monday.
My view from the cart helping out the track prep. Matti and Johan run the BMX division of the UCI, and Johan was the biggest influence for getting BMX into the Olympics. Love it or hate it, the Supercross series has taken BMX to the next level and into the Games and Johan is the one to thank.
The seats at the BMX track spell out BMX. The flags of the 21 countries that will be participating in the BMX race line the track.
Just next to the BMX track is the Velodrome and MTB course. While I was helping out, I notices a lot of activity at the Velodrome and took a quick look at the event schedule. The Team Sprint finials were going on and Jamie Staff was part of the Great Britain team. I took a walk over to the Velodrome just in time to watch Great Britain win the semi finial and make there way to the Gold Medal round. This was s exciting to see ex BMX 'er and one of the original BMX Pros member Jamie Staff going for the Olympic Gold. 4 years ago, Jamie also competed in the Olympics, only to get DQ' ed for a move that was not worth of a DQ. Fast Forward 4 years later, and Jamie is now on his way to Gold or Silver. In the team sprint event, its a 3 lap, 3 rider race. Jamie is the 1st rider (#84) for the team and had set the fastest time for a first lap in all of the games.
The lead up to the Medal round was exciting and when Jamie took off, it was so loud in the arena, as it was filled with a huge GB support crowd. Jamie once again had his fastest lap and the team took a slight lead over the French squad. The lead would just get bigger and bigger in the next lap, and when the anchor for the GB team crossed the line, they were the winners of the Gold Medal! This was one of the proudest moments I have felt, as I got to witness my good friend Jamie Staff win an Olympic Gold!
Saturday and its nice and clear out and the track work continues. Monday is the first day of practice, and the riders are arriving and coming to check out the track. Thomas Alier and the French team were here on Friday and the Aussie's arrived last night. I will have a sneak peak for you of the Olympic Number plates and the Olympic THE helmet. BMX in the 2008 Olympic Game- Its just around the corner and we will be there live to give you a full week of reports. On Wednesday the 13th, Team USA BMX athletes Kyle Bennett, Mike Day, Donny Robinson, Jill Kintner and Coach Mike King load up on United Airlines and head from Los Angeles to Beijing, China. I have been lucky enough to be able to travel with the team to the event and will give you as much behind the scene info and photos from the trip.
Jill Kintner will for sure be doing updates on her site, so check it out as well. For info on the Olympic BMX and other cycling events, click here, to view the NBC Olympics website Kyle is currently featured on the USAtoday.com web site and talks about how he got started in BMX, how his Grandfather was a huge help in his BMX career and has show off his riding style. Check it out here. Check out the video of him as well. Kyle was also featured in the Houston Chronicle.Read the article here. Kyle is also featured in Bicycling Magazine, one of the biggest Cycling magazine that almost never mentions BMX, check it out here. Click here to view images and get information on the track site. Schedule of BMX Race Events- Times listed are Beijing time Wednesday,
Aug. 20 Wednesday August
20th - NBC - 8:00p - 10:00p Prime time (Pacific
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