The Olympic Games in London are in the books for BMX. For the second time two sets of Olympic medals were handed out to BMX'ers. The track looked absolutely fabulous and even the English weather cooperated to make it a great event. Focus on this side were on the Dutch racers who all did a great job. Congrats to
Laura Smulders on her bronze medal,
Raymon van der Biezen on 4th and
Twan van Gendt on his 5th place in the finals. Shout out to
Jelle van Gorkom for giving it all he got. Respect. But the medals in the Elite Men class went to
Colombia, Australia and Latvia. Yup, it was
Maris "The Machine" Strombergs once again who kept his cool and made it happen in the main event grabbing the holeshot and staying right there.
Sam Willoughby tried all he had to find a place to pass but got stuck with silver.
Carlos Oquendo from Colombia was hella stoked on Bronze while
Raymon van der Biezen and
Twan van Gendt crossed the finishline disappointed in 4th and 5th respectively. After all the fast racing they'd shown they were solid candidates for a podium in London. But hey, this is racing. They came out in one piece too.
The girls final was claimed by
Mariana Pajon. The Colombian didn't have the best of starting position but she shot out of the gate fast and got in the lead. Favourites
Caroline Buchanan and
Shanaze Reade were already fighting for positions in the back while
Sarah Walker and
Laura Smulders moved up to medal positions. It might be a surprising podium, but that's how it turned out in London. Congrats to all.
With the worldwide coverage with multiple camera angles catching all the action, BMX racing is ready for the next push. I haven't seen much of the other sports but it's save to say that BMX racing was a spectacular one to watch. It's always better when your favourites are up in front too. Thanks to team Holland for doing so well. Time to celebrate.
BdJResults Olympic finals. MEN. 1 81 Latvia
STROMBERGS Maris 37.576
2 1 * Australia
WILLOUGHBY Sam 37.929
3 566 Colombia
OQUENDO ZABALA Carlos Mario 38.251
4 121 Netherlands
van der BIEZEN Raymon 38.492
5 148 Netherlands
van GENDT Twan 44.744
6 717 Colombia
JIMENEZ CAICEDO Andres Eduardo 53.377
7 11 United States of America
FIELDS Connor 1:03.033
8 65 Great Britain
PHILLIPS Liam 2:11.918
Results Olympic finals. WOMEN. 1 5 Colombia
PAJON Mariana 37.706
2 96 New Zealand
WALKER Sarah 38.133 +0.427
3 110 Netherlands
SMULDERS Laura 38.231 +0.525
4 22 France
le CORGUILLE Laetitia 38.476 +0.770
5 68 Australia
BUCHANAN Caroline 38.903 +1.197
6 12 Great Britain
READE Shanaze 39.247 +1.541
7 1 France
POTTIER Magalie 39.395 +1.689
8 32 United States of America
CRAIN Brooke 40.286 +2.580