Women first semi final:
Heat 1
1 2 CHAUSSON Anne-Caroline FranceFrance 36.931 (1) 1
2 96 WALKER Sarah New ZealandNew Zealand 37.499 (2) 2
3 144 DIAZ Gabriela ArgentinaArgentina 37.605 (3) 3
4 42 FAHNDRICH Jenny SwitzerlandSwitzerland 38.658 (4) 4
5 4 HORAKOVA Jana Czech RepublicCzech Republic 39.107 (5) 5
6 56 COOLS Sammy CanadaCanada 39.765 (6) 6
7 146 MA Liyun ChinaChina 41.789 (7) 7
8 69 SOERENSEN Amanda DenmarkDenmark DNF (8) 8
Heat 2
1 22 le CORGUILLE Laetitia FranceFrance 37.917 (1) 1
2 55 CALLISTO Nicole AustraliaAustralia 38.244 (2) 2
3 33 KINTNER Jill United StatesUnited States 38.950 (3) 3
4 66 KLAUS Lieke NetherlandsNetherlands 40.955 (4) 4
5 145 DUTTO Maria Belen ArgentinaArgentina 41.307 (5) 5
6 101 HODI Aniko HungaryHungary 44.021 (6) 6 7
1 READE Shanaze Great BritainGreat Britain 2:17.714 (7) 7
8 17 BAILEY Tanya AustraliaAustralia DNF (8) 8
Men first semi final:
Heat 1
1 365 DAY Mike United StatesUnited States 36.470 (1) 1
2 10 ROBINSON Donny United StatesUnited States 36.832 (2) 2
3 105 NHLAPO Sifiso South AfricaSouth Africa 37.197 (3) 3
4 717 JIMENEZ Andres ColombiaColombia 37.363 (4) 4
5 88 BENNETT Kyle United StatesUnited States 43.518 (5) 5
6 114 MATISONS Arturs LatviaLatvia 53.379 (6) 6
7 121 van der BIEZEN Raymon NetherlandsNetherlands 55.121 (7) 7
8 777 WILLERS Marc New ZealandNew Zealand 1:22.619 (8) 8
Heat 2
1 1 STROMBERGS Maris LatviaLatvia 36.485 (1) 1
2 53 GRAVES Jared AustraliaAustralia 36.904 (2) 2
3 72 van den WILDENBERG Rob NetherlandsNetherlands 37.277 (3) 3
4 69 GODET Damien FranceFrance 37.410 (4) 4
5 100 BECERINE Cristian Daniel ArgentinaArgentina 37.480 (5) 5
6 28 de VECCHI Manuel ItalyItaly 38.018 (6) 6
7 454 KAMAKAZI AustraliaAustralia 42.551 (7) 7
8 13 RINDERKNECHT Roger SwitzerlandSwitzerland DNF (8) 8
Pic: BMX Mania
Under perfect weather conditions the semi finals have started over in Beijing, China at the summer Olympics. Favorites Mike Day, Maris Strombergs, and Ann Caroline Chausson each won their first semi-final heat. Other women favorite Shanaze Read (UK) crashed out on the first straight while in first position and limped back to the finish line. She has some work to do but by the way she is riding it will be an easy task for her as long as she stays on the bike. She has now crashed twice in two days. One more crash and it is over for her. The Dutch riders had some bad luck. Lieke Klaus rode over Reade's legs in the first turn while being in third but lost her speed to finish 5th. Raymond van der Biezen crashed in the first turn where Marc Willers went out of control. Best finish was of Rob van den Wildenberg who got third in the other semi. The girls have lined up for their second race already.
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.