Don’t look for BMX superstar T.J. Lavin when BMX racers line up their 20-inch wheels at the starting gate for their 2008 Olympic debut in Beijing.
Or any rider from the dirt-jumping, pipe-carving and park-riding freestyle BMX clan.
“The mentality of racers is 100 percent different from that of a dirt jumper or pipe rider,” said Lavin, a Las Vegas BMX icon with internationally ranked aerial prowess. “We are pizza-eating, soda-drinking riders who don’t really care too much about training. They have regimented programs with training levels and nutrition and all that. We are not those people. We don’t even pedal, man.”
While the BMX freestyle tribe may not be joining its pedal-frenzied brethren for a shot at Olympic bling, it will be cheering from the sideline.
After all, BMX racing has been around since the early 1970s, long before riders began tinkering with double back flips over dirt piles and 13-foot tail-whips above a halfpipe. Many veteran BMX tricksters got their start racing over groomed dirt jumps and around banked berms.
The freestyle movement in BMX is a relatively new phenomenon, much like the myriad maverick disciplines emerging from the traditional race-oriented roots of skiing, snowboarding and cycling.
And with the financially thriving X Games and Dew Action Sports Tour elevating the free-spirited athletes of action sports, the road to Olympic glory is underway. The first Olympic step always involves racing.
“Beijing will be a great building block for BMX,” said Kevin Robinson, a 34-year-old BMX halfpipe pioneer who helped forge the small-wheeled freestyle movement. “By having racing in the Olympics, it will show that we are true athletes. Maybe we can draw more attention to our action sports athletes. And when people see the element of risk that we assume every time we ride, it will make sense to bring us into the Olympics. It’s a perfect fit. I can’t imagine with the momentum action sports has now, that it won’t be in the 2012 show.”
When Olympic organizers reached out to younger generations with the inclusion of halfpipe snowboarding in Salt Lake City’s 2002 Winter Olympics, the response was overwhelming. The success of the American snowboarders on Italy’s Olympic stage last winter cemented the stature of action sports heroes in the traditional sports world. Witness 19-year-old Shaun White, a.k.a. “The Coolest Kid in America” according to his recent cover on Rolling Stone magazine.
“I had like grandmas and foreign cab drivers giving me hugs. It was insane the response after the Olympics, and that’s for a sport that wasn’t really considered a big sport of the Olympics,” said White, a professional skateboarder and snowboarder who has surfed snowboarding’s wave to stardom. “I think it’s time to change the way people think about these sports. Times change.
“There are different sports and new things. I don’t know how many of my friends go out cross country skiing and shoot things. I think these new sports are things people can relate to. They can see the physical and technical aspects and it’s entertaining to watch people fly through the air.”
“They need us to thrive”
The Olympics embrace of action sports and youth culture continues, albeit tentatively, with events such as mountain biking, boardercross and BMX racing and the potential inclusion of skiercross at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.
“Those Olympics guys know they need action sports to capture the youth market,” Robinson said. “They need us to thrive.”
There is little question that the United States stands to reap the rewards from the action sports. Most sports such as freestyle motocross, freestyle skiing, snowboarding and freestyle BMX blossomed stateside – and American athletes tend to dominate action-sport showdowns, including those on the Dew Tour and at the X Games.
“In BMX, America will kill it. Nobody can even touch America,” Lavin said.
Beijing and beyond
The lack of specific criteria for judging excellence in freestyle BMX mirrors that of halfpipe snowboarding. Style, creativity, fluidity and grace measure into the subjective judging. The fact there were no judging controversies or even questions in the past two Olympic snowboarding contests shows there is room for more judged action-sport events in the Olympics, said BMX veteran Steve Swope.
Swope last year helped form the International Freestyle BMX Federation that successfully lobbied the International Cycling Union, the governing body for all things bike, to recognize freestyle BMX as a legitimate sport.
The pitch was based on the fact that UCI-recognized BMX racing and BMX freestyle share nothing but 20-inch wheels in common and should not be lumped together as similar disciplines.
“I think everyone who is involved in action sports was really excited about how well snowboarding was received (at the Olympics) this year,” Swope said. “Arguably, they were the biggest part of this year’s Olympics, especially in the U.S. The success of BMX in 2008 will open doors for all action sports, I think. After Beijing there’s a strong possibility we’ll see freestyle BMX in 2012. That will open even more doors.”
But don’t expect to see freestyle BMX athletes heading over to the track for a sliver of the Olympic spotlight.
“Racing is so much work. Hard work,” said Daniel Dhers, a Venezuelan BMX aerialist who won the BMX park competition at last weekend’s Dew Tour stop in Denver. “I like to jump. When the Olympics have vert or park, I’m there.”
Staff writer Jason Blevins can be reached at 303-820-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com.
