Māris Štrombergs (born 10 March 1987) is a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n former professional

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the ea ...

racer. In the

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

he became the first Olympic champion in BMX cycling. Earlier that year he won the 2008 UCI BMX World Championships. In 2012 he added to his Olympic title by winning the gold medal in the London Olympics. Štrombergs was born in

Valmiera Valmiera () is the second largest city of the historical Vidzeme region, Latvia, with a total area of . As of 2002, Valmiera had a population of 27,323, and in 2020, it was at 24,879. It is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city, and ...

. His first trainer was Raimonds Ciesnieks. However, the longest collaboration was with Ivo Lakučs. Māris Štrombergs completed the Olympic 2008 BMX in about 36 seconds. Māris completed the Olympic 2012 BMX course in 37.576 seconds. Upon returning from the 2012 Olympics he was greeted by thousands of fans in hus hometown Valmiera. On November 13, 2018 Māris Štrombergs announced his retirement.

Career bicycle motocross titles

Amateur/junior men

*"2001 The European youth challenge (European Challenge) Champion" *"2005 European Junior Champion." National Bicycle League (NBL) *None American Bicycle Association (ABA) *None Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)* International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)* Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)* *''1996 (Worlds Challenge Class), World Champion of nine years in boys' group.

Professional/elite men

National Bicycle League (NBL) *"2009 Elite Men ("AA") Pro Nat.#1" *"2010 Elite Men ("AA") Grand National Champion Nat.#1 Pro"

American Bicycle Association The American Bicycle Association (ABA) was a US-based BMX racing governing body in Gilbert, Arizona. In 2011, the ABA merged with the former National Bicycle League and became the present-day USA BMX: The American Bicycle Association. The ABA wa ...

(ABA) *"2009 Vice-champion" *"2014 Pro Nat.#1 Men (AA)" International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)* *None (defunct) Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)* *None (defunct. FIAC did not have a strictly professional division during its existence).

Union Cycliste Internationale The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces di ...

(UCI)* *"2008 Elite Men Gold Medal World Champion" *"2010 Elite Men Gold Medal World Champion" *"2011 Elite Men Silver Medal World Champion"

References

External links

Official web page

Video of 2008 World Championships Final

Latvian elite BMX website
* * * * * * 1987 births Living people BMX riders Latvian male cyclists Olympic cyclists for Latvia Olympic gold medalists for Latvia Olympic gold medalists in cycling Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics UCI BMX World Champions (elite men) Sportspeople from Valmiera {{Latvia-Olympic-medalist-stub