Olympics - BMX cycling event

[JiveLad]

I was interested to see that there is an official BMX cycling event in the Olympics this year.

I never had one of those bikes - and not sure about what constitutes a 'BMX' bike. I used to think it was a brand of bike - perhaps not. Is it like yachting now where there are all those different obscure names for the events (where we (UK) seem to do quite well)?

Maybe there will be a 'Chopper' cycling event for London in 2012.

[robd]

According to Wikipedia

A BMX "Class" bike is a strong, quick-handling, lightweight derivative of the standard 20-inch-wheel, single-speed youth bicycle. Variations include a larger 24-inch-wheel "cruiser" class. Cruisers are made for adults who can't fit the 20-inch-wheel bikes, but some kids have mastered the cruiser

I guess the sanctioning bodies have a firmer definition but I suspect the wheel size is the defining criteria.

But will Nicole Kidman be there cheering them on....?

[Poi Boi]

If you want a sample of the kind of thing that might be going on at the BMX olympic event, check out this link;



Or watch any of the other BMX vids on youtube. Some of it is absolutely insane.

[Andy McGregor]

Is it like yachting now where there are all those different obscure names for the events (where we (UK) seem to do quite well)?

The "obscure" names are based on the boats. Until the 2000 olympics it was called "yachting". Nowadays it's called "sailing". All sailing nowadays is in one-design classes - this means everyone is racing in the same model of boat with the same equipment. This may seem obvious, but, when "yachting" started in the 1900 Paris Olympics there was an "Open" handicap class as well as six classes based on tonnage.

There are 9 sailing classes in the Beijing Olympics and each nation can enter only one team for each class and is allowed to win no more than 11 medals - I've no idea how this works once you've reached your quota The UK won 5 medals in each of the last 2 Olympics and this was a fabulous

Sailing really is a difficult sport as you've got to be fit, you've got to know a huge number of rules and you've got to understand how the wind and tides work. The real experts are a joy to behold. The always seem to be in the right place at the right time. The in one-design racing the good guys always seem to be at the front of the fleet. In the days when I raced most weeks there was a real pecking order and you always found yourself with the same guys in about the same position in each race - you used them as the yardstick of your improvements.

For the Beijing games the sailing is at Quingdao. This is a notoriously light wind area with fairly fast tides. The winds are supposed to be very hard to predict as well as light. The UK is one of the top tipped teams. However, the random element of variable winds is going to introduce a variable which might help people with less skill who suddenly find themselves in the right place on the water due to wind-shifts.

My prediction is that Olympic sailing will make dull viewing on TV

N.B. I'll be bowman in a J80 called "Confusion" during Cowes week. The J80 fleet is a fairly big one-design fleet with many experienced sailors. None of our team will have been on this model of boat before although we've raced 1720s, a very similar boat. We're hoping to keep up with the rest of the fleet and not embarrass ourselves too much

[Gadget]

They've taken out Fencing and put in the likes of "beach volleyball" and "bmx-ing"... {sigh} Don't worry - they will take out Sailing next; probably replace it with parasurfing or waterskiing or something

[Tricky Dancer]

First post.

Please do some research the type of BMX that they are doing at the Olympics is around a circuit a bit like motorcross.

St. Peters BMX

Very poular in other parts of the world not in the UK we are more into street.

[Agente Secreto]

First post.

Please do some research the type of BMX that they are doing at the Olympics is around a circuit a bit like motorcross.

St. Peters BMX

Very poular in other parts of the world not in the UK we are more into street.

I watched proper Bicycle Moto-Cross (what BMX stands for) on Sky Sports and it was pretty exciting and athletic stuff.

It is definitely a demanding sport, so I suppose that there is no reason why it should not be included. After all over the years the Olympics have embraced all sorts of sports in addition to the 9 event in the first real modern olympics back in 1896 1896 Summer Olympics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Gav]

They've taken out Fencing and put in the likes of "beach volleyball" and "bmx-ing"... {sigh} Don't worry - they will take out Sailing next; probably replace it with parasurfing or waterskiing or something

Mountain-biking has been in since 1996, apparently.

In the past, host countries were allowed to introduce "demonstration sports" which would not count towards the proper medal tally and would be unlikely to be continued next time.
However, the IOC cancelled demo-sports in 1992 so nowadays the host nations have to beg the IOC to dump one sport in favour of another.

Boring history lesson over. zzzz

[Andy McGregor]

They've taken out Fencing and put in the likes of "beach volleyball" and "bmx-ing"... {sigh} Don't worry - they will take out Sailing next; probably replace it with parasurfing or waterskiing or something

How Gadget knows this stuff I will never fathom. If you want to buy tickets for fencing at the Beijing Olympics go here - or believe Gadget

And I'm pretty sure that Fencing will be at the 2012 Olympics. Go here to see the ad for the Fencing Organiser for the London Olympics in 2012.

It may come as a surprise to some people that Gadget is a fencer. However, when you consider the dance advice he gives while claiming to be a dancer it all, somehow, makes sense

[JiveLad]

How Gadget knows this stuff I will never fathom. If you want to buy tickets for fencing at the Beijing Olympics go here - or believe Gadget

And I'm pretty sure that Fencing will be at the 2012 Olympics. Go here to see the ad for the Fencing Organiser for the London Olympics in 2012.

It may come as a surprise to some people that Gadget is a fencer. However, when you consider the dance advice he gives while claiming to be a dancer it all, somehow, makes sense

I think that he probably gets the point now.

No more sabre rattling on this thread - please Andy.

Anyway, I see that in the Fencing, France are sending 7 times as many competitors as Great Britain (14 vs 2). And France are also sending the most Archers of all countries competing. I wonder why that is?

[Andy McGregor]

Anyway, I see that in the Fencing, France are sending 7 times as many competitors as Great Britain (14 vs 2).

I think that's because France have many more fencers who are high up in the world rankings. I used to be a fencer and we'd occasionally get visitors from France come to our club when they were in the UK. Those fencers were always well trained and skilled because they'd done fencing at school. I believe that most French schools, if not all of them, have fencing on the curriculum. I was lucky enough to do fencing at school too, but most people in the UK did not get the opportunity.

Could I beat Gadget? You bet*

* I haven't fenced for 12 years, but I'm still confident that I can beat Gadget

[Baruch]

Mountain-biking has been in since 1996, apparently.

And for 2012, despite having several world-class mountain bike tracks here in Wales, they've decided to hold the mountain bike events in Essex. A county that is notable for its complete lack of the fundamental ingredient in a mountain bike event: mountains.

How they decide this stuff is beyond me. It seems that, despite the constant cry of "The Olympics will benefit the whole of Britain!" they have no intention of letting anything to do with the Games escape from South-East England. (They're quite happy to take our money to help pay for the Games, though!)

[Gav]

And for 2012, despite having several world-class mountain bike tracks here in Wales, they've decided to hold the mountain bike events in Essex. A county that is notable for its complete lack of the fundamental ingredient in a mountain bike event: mountains.

How they decide this stuff is beyond me. It seems that, despite the constant cry of "The Olympics will benefit the whole of Britain!" they have no intention of letting anything to do with the Games escape from South-East England. (They're quite happy to take our money to help pay for the Games, though!)

Not related to the fact that it's one of the home counties and the games are meant to be in London then?

I'm sure that when the games go to Merthyr Tydfil, all the events will be held nearby too.

[JiveLad]

I think that's because France have many more fencers who are high up in the world rankings. I used to be a fencer and we'd occasionally get visitors from France come to our club when they were in the UK. Those fencers were always well trained and skilled because they'd done fencing at school. I believe that most French schools, if not all of them, have fencing on the curriculum. I was lucky enough to do fencing at school too, but most people in the UK did not get the opportunity.


* I haven't fenced for 12 years, but I'm still confident that I can beat Gadget

Maybe the desire to fence is embedded in the French cultural tradition: think Porthos, Athos and Aramis meet 'The Flashing Blade'.


So Andy, apart from fencing and yachting, which other Olympic events would suit your talents most?

[Andy McGregor]

So Andy, apart from fencing and yachting, which other Olympic events would suit your talents most?

It's a surprising coincidence, but they are only two Olympic sports I have done as an adult. I did do Tae Kwon-Do and that was the demonstration sport for the Korean Olympics - I've no idea if it's still an Olympic sport.

Which Oympic event would suit my talents most? At 51 years old I'm afraid it would be judging

[JiveLad]

Which Oympic event would suit my talents most? At 51 years old I'm afraid it would be judging

Well....the American John Dane is going to be in the American Olympic saiing team in the 2008 Olympics.

He is 58.

And there have been older competitors of course.

[Baruch]

Not related to the fact that it's one of the home counties and the games are meant to be in London then?

I'm sure that when the games go to Merthyr Tydfil, all the events will be held nearby too.

I have no problems with the Games being held in London. What I do have a huge problem with is the way people from all over the UK have been forced to pay for them.

The promises of economic benefits to other parts of the UK sound rather hollow when Wales, for example, stands to lose about 107 million pounds to help pay for the Olympics. And who will profit when the land is sold off after the Games? The London Development Agency. In other words, the richest part of the UK is going to reap huge financial benefits to the cost of the poorer parts. Hmm, nothing new there then.

I also have a problem with the silliness of holding a mountain bike event in Essex, where there are no mountains. Why not Wales or Scotland?

[SteveK]

The promises of economic benefits to other parts of the UK sound rather hollow when Wales, for example, stands to lose about 107 million pounds to help pay for the Olympics. And who will profit when the land is sold off after the Games? The London Development Agency. In other words, the richest part of the UK is going to reap huge financial benefits to the cost of the poorer parts. Hmm, nothing new there then.

This argument does seem quite persuasive. However I'm currently working in Cairns (Oz), and it's the Catholic World Youth Day coming up fairly soon in Sydney. There's lots of young catholic tourists around the place at the moment - block booking tour books to the Barrier Reef etc. So it's a big positive here for World Youth Day (lots of extra tourist income), but Sydney gets all the hassle (traffic congestion, silly annoyance rules etc.). Perhaps the same thing might happen at the Olympics - lots of extra tourist income to Wales, but without any of the annoying traffic jams/security problems that all the people in London will be facing.

[Andy McGregor]

in Essex, where there are no mountains.

They could easily make their own white shoe mountain

There are many regional differences in the UK. I see this as good news. We're all mobile, if we don't like what's on offer where we live we can always move. As they say in the song "I'm going where the weather suits my clothes" - if you think London is so fabulous and gets all the opportunities you can go and live there.

Personally, I'd choose Wales every time, or pretty much anywhere else in preference to London, especially during the Olympics.

[Gadget]

How Gadget knows this stuff I will never fathom.

"For the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing there have been several fencing event changes. The men's team foil event has been dropped and the women's foil and sabre team events replace the team epée."
Crossed lines from pub discussions... after all, isn't that where most fencing socialising takes place?

It may come as a surprise to some people that Gadget is a fencer. However, when you consider the dance advice he gives while claiming to be a dancer it all, somehow, makes sense

It's been a while since my parter was my opponent.
I don't think I've ever claimed to be a fencer...I just happened to fence (and coach). I'm certainly a more competent dancer than I ever was a fencer (just don't have that killer instinct; make love; not war, man :hippy smiley:)

Against Andy I think I'll choose rapier/main gauche combo (...although I'm not sure I would even get into my jacket any more )