Freestyle BMX to be introduced at London 2012

Perusing Bike Biz this morning, (it's a crazy life I lead) I was overjoyed to read that Freestyle BMX will be introduced at London 2012. Dave Brailsford, British Cycling's performance director told MPs, peers and bike big-wigs that racing BMX would be joined by freestyle BMX at the London Olympics.

After the glory of our cycling boys and girls in Beijing, I have no doubt the UK will put together a strong team to take on the world in this creative, physical and skillful discipline. However I fear  there will be purists out there who will be tut-tutting at the thought of this street sport entering the Olympic arena. After announcing the introduction Dave Brailsford quipped 

 "The information I'm getting is I'll be performance director of street BMX so I will have to go and get my hoodie and baggie shorts."

which only goes to reinforce how many feel about freestyle BMX as a sport. I am sure most of my London readers will be familiar with the sight of hooded youth swerving down the pavement on a BMX, doing their best to rundown old ladies and bouncing up and down curbs.


But with its roots deep in urban culture, I believe Freestyle BMX will add a well needed breath of fresh air, much like the introduction of snowboarding to the winter Olympics, to the lycra clad image of cycling in other Olympic disciplines. And if by introducing freestyle BMX to London 2012 young Londoners can be inspired to get on their bikes and go for gold it can only be a good thing for our city. So dust of your BMX, get down the skate park and get with the program.




My First Decade from BMX Freestyler on Vimeo.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 09:44 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed or trackback from your own site. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Comments

  1. phil

    the video u have posted is in fact flatland bmx, NOT freestyle bmx.

  2. The Hungry Cyclist

    oh dear – sorry about that. do you have any links to good video examples of freestyle bmx. sorry about the mistake and thanks for the heads up.tomTom Kevill-Davies
    The Hungry Cyclist – Pedalling The World For The Perfect Meal

  3. fur factory

    so fun, i like it

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