The men's

BMX racing BMX racing is a type of off-road bicycle racing. The format of BMX was derived from motocross racing. BMX bicycle racing, races are sprint races on purpose-built off-road single-lap race tracks. The track usually consists of a starting gate for u ...

competition at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

took place on August 20–22 at the

Laoshan BMX Field The Laoshan Bicycle Moto Cross (BMX) () was one of 9 temporary venues used for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It was located in Laoshan, Shijingshan District, Beijing. The venue was used for the men's and women's BMX racing BMX racing is a type ...

, the first to be officially featured in the Olympic cycling program.

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Māris Štrombergs Māris Štrombergs (born 10 March 1987) is a Latvian former professional BMX racer. In the 2008 Summer Olympics he became the first Olympic champion in BMX cycling. Earlier that year he won the 2008 UCI BMX World Championships. In 2012 he pro ...

powered his lead over the eight-strong final squad from the start to grab his nation's first gold medal at the Games. He stormed home on a sprint run to a finish in 36.190, leaving the American duo Mike Day and

Donny Robinson Donald Robinson (born June 17, 1983, in Napa, California) is an American professional "New/Current School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years are from 1999 to the present. His moniker is "dR", his initials. The use of the ...

behind at 36.606 and 36.972 for the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Qualification

Thirty-two riders representing twenty countries are qualified for the event. Qualification was based on UCI ranking by nations,

2008 UCI BMX World Championships The 2008 UCI BMX World Championships took place in Taiyuan in China and crowned world champions in the cycle sport, cycling discipline of BMX racing. Great Britain's Shanaze Reade won her second consecutive world championships in the elite women's ...

results and wild-cards reserved to a ''Tripartite Commission'' (

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

ANOC The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) is an international organization that affiliates the current 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Each year it gathers all its member ...

, UCI).

Competition format

Each of the 32 men competing performed two runs of the course in individual time trials to determine seeding for the knockout rounds. Then, they were grouped into 4 quarterfinal groups based on that seeding. Each quarterfinal consisted of three runs of the course, using a point-for-place system. The top four cyclists in each quarterfinal (for a total of 16) moved on to the semifinals. The semifinals also used a three-race point-for-place system to determine which cyclists advanced, with the top four in each of the two semifinals moving on to the final. Unlike the previous two rounds, the final consisted of a single race with the first to the finish line claiming the gold medal.

Schedule

All times are

China Standard Time The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00 (eight hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time), even though the country spans almost five geographical time zones. The official national standard time is called ''Beijing Tim ...

( UTC+8)

Results

Seeding

Quarterfinals

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's BMX Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics BMX at the Summer Olympics 2008 in BMX Men's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics