Olympic BMX bikers practice during a training session for the Beijing Games
America's pastime, baseball, and its sister sport, softball, will be banished from the Olympic program after Beijing. But flag-waving Americans shouldn't be dismayed. For on Aug. 20, a new event will debut at the Olympics, a quintessential U.S endeavor that will make all the red-white-and-blue-blooded citizens proud. America, introduce yourself to BMX cycling. Or more simply, dudes on dirt bikes.
In BMX cycling, eight bikers are lumped together on a narrow, twisting dirt track. First to the finish wins. Period. The bikes fly off jumps, and midair collisions are inevitable. It's a summer version of snowboard cross — the frenzied, TV-friendly race that debuted in Torino in which racers zip down the mountain while navigating tricky jumps and dodging each other. Remember Lindsey Jacobellis, the American who was yards from a gold before she hot-dogged it off a ramp and fell?
That sport was a hit, so NBC is giving BMX cycling the Phelps treatment. The bikers will race during breakfast in Beijing, and NBC will air it live in prime time on Aug. 20. Track won't get that kind of placement.
The fun start immediately, when eight riders bunch up atop a three-story hill. At "go," expect a show. "You go 5 ft., then 'kink,' it drops almost straight down, about 60°," says Donny Robinson, the top-ranked rider for the U.S. men. "It's like going down a roller coaster, a 'just hang on' kind of thing." The racers will all be moving at 40 m.p.h., jostling for inside position. Calamities are commonplace: face it; that's part of the appeal. "Anyone here who tells you they haven't crashed is a liar," says fellow American Kyle Bennett. "I had a pretty gnarly concussion once," says the third American qualifier, Mike Day, who was knocked out for a day after face-planting.
There are few rules for BMX, which can give it a roller-derby feel. "People can't T-bone you," says Day. That means a rider isn't allowed to use his wheel as a weapon, crashing into an opponent at a right angle. That doesn't mean no nudging. "We don't intentionally try to bust people," says Day. It just sort of happens. Regularly.
Robinson says he keeps it clean because he fears revenge. "In other races, there are plenty of opportunities for guys to pay you back," he says. But Donny, you're 25 years old, a dinosaur in extreme-sports circles, and these are the Olympics. You win, you may not need to race again. We'll forgive a little tomfoolery.
Robinson is the rider to watch. Besides biking for gold, he's shooting to shift the stereotype of extreme-sport athletes. "I hope we can bring some edge," he says. "But we're not a bunch of punk kids riding around town vandalizing stuff." That's nice to know. "I'm not the typical action-sport athlete," he says. "I like to sing and dance. That's who I am; that's my personality."
Sports like BMX are the future of the Games, to the chagrin of some traditionalists. The Olympics are trying to get younger and hipper. Over the past decade, the Winter Olympics have cashed in on the action-sports craze captivating the young demo. With interest sparked by ESPN's surprisingly popular X-Games, snowboarders and freestyle skiers have snatched medals and, more important, ratings points. How mainstream have action sports become? Snowboarder Shaun "The Flying Tomato" White, poster boy of the '06 Torino Games, is now a pitchman for American Express.
And BMX fits the bill perfectly. It's fast, it's dangerous, it's fan-friendly — what's not to like? We can watch baseball in September, and unlike softball, BMX offers genuine international competition. European countries like Latvia field strong teams, so the U.S. is not assured a sweep. And it's not as if these guys aren't athletic. In fact, given the strength they need for speed and the technical skill required to stay on their bikes, they're some of the best athletes at the Olympics. Says Robinson: "People are going to be shocked at what we can do on a bike."