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After three rounds of thrills and spills in the Mens Semis, only two RL reps would make the cut to the big O’show. Dutch dominator ROB van den WILDENBERG and French ripper DAMIEN GODET found themselves on the main stage, lining up against some of the toughest competition they’ll ever meet - Day, Robinson, Latvia’s Stromsburg, Aussie Graves, Jiminez and South African Nihlapo. Eight riders representing seven different countries; this was exactly what the Olympics are all about. And REDLINE bikes outnumbered all other brands in the first ever Olympic final.

Godet, who'd made the Wolrds main earlier this year, was out to defend a long standing French tradition of breeding fast BMXers. While Van den Wildenberg hails from the country that brought BMX to Europe and has one of the most serious Nationally-funded BMX programs behind him. Choosing middle lanes, our history-making Redline riders were ready to get their “snap” on. As the World watched, the random gate cadence began and the gate slammed down! >From the get-go, it was all Stromsburg; the current UCi World Champ. But Americans Mikey and Donny were nipping on his back knobbies all the way down the second straight. Skyin’ the 40 foot gap of the Girls berm, it was wheels to wheel action in mid-pack, with our Redline heroes poised to make their move for a top-4 spot. As they all hit the asphalt of turn two at mach speeds, Nihlapo lost traction and slid out, sending his bike in to Jared Graves, whose bike flipped up in front of France’s Damien Godet. Meanwhile, Van den Wildenberg managed to take the highroad and barely escaped the flaming carnage of France, Australia and South Africa - and would power in his Flight bike for a fifth place.

In the end, BMX’s first Olympic Gold medal went to Latvian Maris Stromsberg, with USA favorite Mikey Day claiming silver and Donny Robinson scoring bronze. REDLINE would like to congratulate all who put on a GREAT show for the millions of viewers; from the UCi staff to all 48 riders who qualified and helped introduced many parents and kids to this awesome sport called BMX Racing!

IT WAS GOLD OR NOTHING FOR SHANAZE READE

For years now, it had been predicted by most that REDLINE~UK’s SHANAZE READE would become the Golden girl of BMX’s Olympic debut. But from the very first semi, it was not the complete domination we’d all had come to expect. Unusually, the 17 year old BMX prodigy kicked off the evening by getting balled up in her first semi and had to settle for a 7th place. In round two, she scored a 2nd place behind France Latetia le’Corguille. Sitting with 9 points, the pressure was on Shanaze to grab a top score in orderto get a top-4 ticket to the main event.

Here is how they finished after the three rounds; taking the top-4 finishers to the main:

ELITE WOMEN SEMI #1
Jill Kintner (USA)
Shanaze Reade (UK)
Laetitia le Corguille (FRA)
Nicole Callisto (AUS)
Tanya Bailey (AUS)
Lieke Klaus (NED)
Maria Belen Dutto (ARG)
Aniko Hodi (HUN)

French MTB’er Anne-Caroline Chauson, in her final bicycle race of her long and illustrious career, had been predicted to be the closest to giving the Great Brit a run for the Gold but would not meet up with Redline’s wonder woman until the main event.

ELITE WOMEN SEMI #2
Anne-Caro Chausson (FRA)
Sarah Walker (NZL)
Gabriela Diaz (ARG)
Sammy Cools (CAN)
Jana Horakova (CZE)
Jenny Fahndrich (SUI)
Amanda Sorensen (DEN)
Liyun Ma (CHN)

In the main, the eight fastest women in the World lined up for tens of millions of TV viewers to see what BMX is all about. From the start, Shanaze and rival Anne-Caro were straight to the front of the hard-chargin’ pack. Over the first jump, Canadian Samantha Cools looped and bailed in spectacular fashion. Hitting the first turn at high speeds, in the very space where she’d crashed twice so far, Shanaze played it safe - which left the door wide open for the flyin’ French woman to swoop underneath and shut down the Redline rider’s line. Shanaze and her FLIGHT Pro XL were forced to dive to the bottom of the track and got back on the gas, pulling up alongside Chauson. Down the second and third straights, the two battled bar to bar. Before the final turn, Anne-Caroline pulled a good lead with her smoother jumping skills from years of MTB downhill racing.

In the final turn, Shanaze was still within striking distance … the key word being STRIKE. In what can only be summed up as a “It’s GOLD or nothing” move, Shanaze dove to the extreme inside and cut hard in to Anne-Caroline’s rear triangle in a last ditch effort. Rather than to wait for a drag race to the finishline, Reade took a stab at a solid Chauson, who held her ground and sent the Brit bailing off blance and bashing in to the paved asphault.

For Shanaze and Redline, all of the hopes and dreams of Olympic glory in 2008 dramatically came to an end in the final turn. But we are sure that beginning Saturday morning, all sights will now be set on Medal redemption in front of her home country - in 2012.