BMX

[Jakob]

Can I commit heresy and suggest that BMX is a prime candidate for this thread?

Pah!  It's an excellent Olympic sport.  It fulfils the "higher, faster, stronger" criteria more than a lot of other Olympic sports.

I agree, the racing is fantastic, and ideal for the MTV (and later) generations with the attention span of a gnat.  If they decide to add the street and vert though, that would be a true tragedy.

Skateboarding is slowly heading that way with Street League Skateboarding...but none of the guys competing in that can hold a candle to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/GyfzmzYXDzY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/GyfzmzYXDzY&rel=1</a>

Similar with BMX...you just can't imagine an Olympic setup like this:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/GyfzmzYXDzY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/GyfzmzYXDzY&rel=1</a>
(Watch it all the way through..it's worth it!).

BMX racing has always been a very different culture to freestyle BMX. Freestyle is much more of a street culture, almost directly linked with skateboarding.

[Basil]

I was always a bit "meh" about BMX bikes until I caught some of it on the little telly with the sound off in the pub tonight.
Wow!  That is a true Olympian sport.
Those guys are NUTS!  But skilfully nuts.

Foopball, tennis and (is it true, next Olympics?) golf, hang your head in shame.

[Kim]

Okay, I just tracked some down on iplayer.  Nobody told me that they'd reconstructed one of the tracks from Skidmarks in solid concrete, stuck a ski jump ramp on the end of it and then invited people to chuck themselves down it on children's bikes!

Seriously, wow!

(I can't help but have an Alan Partridge^[1] "Shit! Did you see that!" commentary in the back of my head while watching it...)


_{[1] In his earlier incarnation as sports desk anchor on The Day Today.}

[Cudzoziemiec]

Ah, thanks for that, bobb. So the low gear is for fast acceleration out of the gate. Makes sense.

d.

I've seen BMXes in uphill racing and they accelerate off the line far faster than road bikes, fixies and MTBs.

[Regulator]

Sorry - but the participants being a sandwich short of a picnic is not the basis for making something an Olympic sport.

And as for skateboarding, FFS  .... if the becomes an Olympic sport (or even a demonstration sport) you know that the lunatics have taken over the asylum and the sponsors have had their way.

[Jakob]

And as for skateboarding, FFS  ..

What's wrong with skateboarding?

[tiermat]

And as for skateboarding, FFS  ..

What's wrong with skateboarding?

I personally don't think there is anything wrong with skateboarding, but it falls into the same category as Dressage and Synch drowning Swimming, whereby the medals are awarded by points amassed for how good people think you are, not by a demonstrable stronger, higher, faster measure.

[delthebike]

Skateboards using the BMX start ramp and tracks would be great!

[bikenrrd]

The horse dancing is probably the least Olympic sport I've seen so far.  The cross country and show jumping are all good (but the riders should be assigned a horse at random! ).  Wrong thread, probably!

[Jaded]

That was the problem. This is one of the reasons why bar end plugs are mandatory for competition. Handlebar organectomies are not pleasant things.

Best mate did that to his spleen on The Mound in 1978.

He always a helmet now.

The last bit is a lie.

[Arch]

And as for skateboarding, FFS  ..

What's wrong with skateboarding?

I personally don't think there is anything wrong with skateboarding, but it falls into the same category as Dressage and Synch drowning Swimming, whereby the medals are awarded by points amassed for how good people think you are, not by a demonstrable stronger, higher, faster measure.

Does it matter? Someone is still better than the rest. And it's not like it's just a case of a panel of 6 old ladies saying "oooh, I like that one", since there are set moves to incorporate and do well. All the gymnastics, as far as I know, rely on a judge panel scoring them, and I don't see so many people scoffing at those as they are at dressage.

[mattc]

Wow.

Well, that was fantastic TV. Not remotely Olympian, but great entertainment!

I must confess, I didn't know until the final race that they use clipless pedals  And only then cos of the poor chap that came unclipped in mid-air!

Good crashes, too 

[mrcharly-YHT]

6th

She'll be gutted

[Arch]

6th

She'll be gutted

Luckily, not literally. When the reporter handed back to studio, she said "Well, no medals, but no major injuries either".  Comes to something when "nobody died!" is a good result!

[bobb]

Comes to something when "nobody died!" is a good result!

They're going completely over the top with all the crash stuff talk. 99.9% of the time, they just get straight up.

I would imagine you are statistically more likely to die riding a bicycle on the road for nothing more than leisure than you are racing a BMX on a dirt track....

[Veloman]

6th

She'll be gutted

Luckily, not literally. When the reporter handed back to studio, she said "Well, no medals, but no major injuries either".  Comes to something when "nobody died!" is a good result!

She wasn't referring to people dying, she was referring to major injuries which one assumes are similar to those resulting from liver/spleen as not up thread.

As always though, never let fact get in the way of a good post.

(Now waiting for Kirst to comment on my tedious criticism!)

[Arch]

6th

She'll be gutted

Luckily, not literally. When the reporter handed back to studio, she said "Well, no medals, but no major injuries either".  Comes to something when "nobody died!" is a good result!

She wasn't referring to people dying, she was referring to major injuries which one assumes are similar to those resulting from liver/spleen as not up thread.

As always though, never let fact get in the way of a good post.

(Now waiting for Kirst to comment on my tedious criticism!)

Oh for gods sake, it was a joke!

I'm getting quite pissed off with this place recently.

[bobb]

Can people please stop quoting Veloman? I've got him on ignore, but whenever someone quotes him I get to see his inane bullshit.

Ta.

[Veloman]

I would imagine you are statistically more likely to die riding a bicycle on the road for nothing more than leisure than you are racing a BMX on a dirt track....

Glad to see you picked up on the reference to dying in a BMX race.

Inane whatever?

[padbeat]

Can people please stop quoting Veloman? I've got him on ignore, but whenever someone quotes him I get to see his inane bullshit.

Ta.

I didn't even know you could do that - is there a hidden button?

[padbeat]

6th

She'll be gutted

Luckily, not literally. When the reporter handed back to studio, she said "Well, no medals, but no major injuries either".  Comes to something when "nobody died!" is a good result!

She wasn't referring to people dying, she was referring to major injuries which one assumes are similar to those resulting from liver/spleen as not up thread.

As always though, never let fact get in the way of a good post.

(Now waiting for Kirst to comment on my tedious criticism!)

In fairness, it is fairly tedious. And humourless.

[bobb]

Stop it!!! 

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Inane whatever?

Bullshit.

Sorry bobb. I'll make it up to you in six sleeps.

[Biggsy]

Threads to post to to save spoiling good threads: Tedius Inane Bullshit Bin and Pendants' Corner.

[Piemaster]

The horse dancing is probably the least Olympic sport I've seen so far.  The cross country and show jumping are all good (but the riders should be assigned a horse at random! ).  Wrong thread, probably!

+1
On a par with the dancing dog in Britains Got Talent