Race: Strombergs and Pajon take the gold in London. By BdJ

The Olympic Games in London are in the books for BMX. For the second time two sets of Olympic medals were handed out to BMX'ers. The track looked absolutely fabulous and even the English weather cooperated to make it a great event. Focus on this side were on the Dutch racers who all did a great job. Congrats to Laura Smulders on her bronze medal, Raymon van der Biezen on 4th and Twan van Gendt on his 5th place in the finals. Shout out to Jelle van Gorkom for giving it all he got. Respect. But the medals in the Elite Men class went to

Colombia, Australia and Latvia. Yup, it was Maris "The Machine" Strombergs once again who kept his cool and made it happen in the main event grabbing the holeshot and staying right there. Sam Willoughby tried all he had to find a place to pass but got stuck with silver. Carlos Oquendo from Colombia was hella stoked on Bronze while Raymon van der Biezen and Twan van Gendt crossed the finishline disappointed in 4th and 5th respectively. After all the fast racing they'd shown they were solid candidates for a podium in London. But hey, this is racing. They came out in one piece too.

The girls final was claimed by Mariana Pajon. The Colombian didn't have the best of starting position but she shot out of the gate fast and got in the lead. Favourites Caroline Buchanan and Shanaze Reade were already fighting for positions in the back while Sarah Walker and Laura Smulders moved up to medal positions. It might be a surprising podium, but that's how it turned out in London. Congrats to all.

With the worldwide coverage with multiple camera angles catching all the action, BMX racing is ready for the next push. I haven't seen much of the other sports but it's save to say that BMX racing was a spectacular one to watch. It's always better when your favourites are up in front too. Thanks to team Holland for doing so well. Time to celebrate.

BdJ

Results Olympic finals. MEN.
1 81 Latvia STROMBERGS Maris 37.576
2 1 * Australia WILLOUGHBY Sam 37.929
3 566 Colombia OQUENDO ZABALA Carlos Mario 38.251
4 121 Netherlands van der BIEZEN Raymon 38.492
5 148 Netherlands van GENDT Twan 44.744
6 717 Colombia JIMENEZ CAICEDO Andres Eduardo 53.377
7 11 United States of America FIELDS Connor 1:03.033
8 65 Great Britain PHILLIPS Liam 2:11.918

Results Olympic finals. WOMEN.
1 5 Colombia PAJON Mariana 37.706
2 96 New Zealand WALKER Sarah 38.133 +0.427
3 110 Netherlands SMULDERS Laura 38.231 +0.525
4 22 France le CORGUILLE Laetitia 38.476 +0.770
5 68 Australia BUCHANAN Caroline 38.903 +1.197
6 12 Great Britain READE Shanaze 39.247 +1.541
7 1 France POTTIER Magalie 39.395 +1.689
8 32 United States of America CRAIN Brooke 40.286 +2.580