The men's BMX racing competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on August 20–22 at the Laoshan BMX Field, the first to be officially featured in the Olympic cycling program.
Latvia's Māris Štrombergs 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 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 results and wild-cards reserved to a Tripartite Commission (IOC, ANOC, UCI).http://uci.ch/includes/asp/getTarget.asp?type=FILE&id=MzU5MTI
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 (UTC+8) Date Time RoundWednesday, 20 August 2008 09:00 SeedingWednesday, 20 August 2008 11:40 QuarterfinalsFriday, 22 August 2008 09:00 Semifinals and final
Results
Seeding Rank Name Time Notes 1 35.692 2 35.910 3 36.008 4 36.072 5 36.112 6 36.145 7 36.301 8 36.325 9 36.339 10 36.351 11 36.372 12 36.421 13 36.428 14 36.466 15 36.492 16 36.509 17 36.519 18 36.522 19 36.649 20 36.689 21 36.768 22 36.795 23 36.803 24 36.810 25 36.993 26 37.050 27 37.253 28 37.392 29 37.635 30 38.688 31 38.830 32 40.548
Quarterfinals
Heat 1 Rank Name 1st run 2nd run 3rd run Total Notes 1 36.170 (1) 36.080 (1) 36.122 (1) 3 Q 2 47.614 (4) 36.253 (3) 36.278 (2) 9 Q 3 48.906 (6) 36.235 (2) 36.490 (3) 11 Q 4 36.619 (2) 36.939 (5) 36.660 (4) 11 Q 5 53.614 (8) 36.481 (4) 36.789 (5) 17 6 37.080 (3) 37.381 (6) 1:02.877 (8) 17 7 48.487 (5) 42.614 (8) 40.046 (6) 19 8 53.300 (7) 39.213 (7) 57.461 (7) 21
Heat 2 Rank Name 1st run 2nd run 3rd run Total Notes 1 36.796 (3) 36.325 (2) 36.507 (1) 6 Q 2 35.903 (1) 36.819 (3) 37.037 (2) 6 Q 3 37.205 (4) 35.878 (1) 1:04.709 (5) 10 Q 4 36.639 (2) 37.146 (4) (8) 14 Q 5 38.561 (8) 39.083 (5) 38.846 (3) 16 6 38.535 (7) 41.915 (7) 56.171 (4) 18 7 37.773 (5) 41.219 (6) 1:27.010 (7) 18 8 38.202 (6) (8) 1:16.617 (6) 20
Heat 3 Rank Name 1st run 2nd run 3rd run Total Notes 1 36.762 (1) 35.934 (1) 40.628 (5) 7 Q 2 37.403 (2) 37.024 (5) 37.176 (1) 8 Q 3 37.416 (3) 37.284 (6) 37.840 (2) 11 Q 4 42.377 (7) 36.785 (3) 38.463 (3) 13 Q 5 37.609 (4) 36.992 (4) 42.473 (6) 14 6 38.725 (6) 39.220 (8) 39.276 (4) 18 7 54.105 (8) 36.237 (2) 1:08.185 (8) 18 8 37.989 (5) 37.653 (7) 50.052 (7) 19
Heat 4 Rank Name 1st run 2nd run 3rd run Total Notes 1 38.067 (1) 36.496 (2) 36.076 (1) 4 Q 2 38.399 (2) 42.733 (7) 36.985 (2) 11 Q 3 54.234 (8) 36.462 (1) 37.136 (3) 12 Q 4 41.241 (3) 40.221 (4) 38.023 (6) 13 Q 5 54.216 (7) 37.479 (3) 37.573 (5) 15 6 41.594 (4) 41.043 (5) 38.037 (7) 16 7 51.198 (6) 1:02.432 (8) 37.420 (4) 18 8 42.658 (4) 42.625 (6) 38.821 (8) 19
Semifinals
Semifinal 1 Rank Name 1st run 2nd run 3rd run Total Notes 1 36.470 (1) 36.219 (1) 37.461 (3) 5 Q 2 37.197 (3) 36.597 (3) 36.457 (2) 8 Q 3 36.832 (2) 36.462 (2) 56.249 (6) 10 Q 4 37.363 (4) 36.862 (4) 44.507 (5) 13 Q 5 55.121 (7) 37.258 (6) 36.200 (1) 14 6 43.518 (5) 37.200 (5) 43.897 (4) 14 7 53.379 (6) 1:17.170 (8) (8) 22 8 1:22.619 (8) 43.256 (7) (8) 23
Semifinal 2 Rank Name 1st run 2nd run 3rd run Total Notes 1 36.485 (1) 35.969 (1) 36.071 (1) 3 Q 2 37.277 (3) 36.360 (2) 37.496 (4) 9 Q 3 36.904 (2) 39.296 (5) 37.242 (3) 10 Q 4 37.410 (4) 36.707 (4) 37.805 (6) 14 Q 5 37.480 (5) (8) 37.079 (2) 15 6 42.551 (7) 41.256 (6) 37.497 (5) 18 7 (8) 36.610 (3) 48.734 (8) 19 8 38.018 (6) 42.148 (7) 38.208 (7) 20
Final Rank Name Time Notes 36.190 36.606 36.972 4 39.137 5 39.772 6 2:19.233 7 8
References