I come from a time where people would race BMX but if they “wanted to get serious” about a sport and chase a dream of some day becoming an Olympian they would have to find another sport. Many did. They may not have gone all the way to the Olympics but certainly were able to build on what they had learned through BMX racing and become champions and leaders in their ventures. BMX lost these athletes, in the Olympic age we still lose people to other sports, it is what it is.

Of course BMX became a “serious sport” when was added to the line up of Olympic sports at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

As with any sport, at any level for that matter, there are stories of heart break and heroism. Here are just some of them.

In 2008 Great Britain’s Shanaze Reade was the hot favourite, but it didn’t all go to plan for Reade. She crashed in one of her two time trials, she then crashed again in her first heat, but managed to pull herself together to make the cut for the main. She didn’t get the best of gates and worked hard to chase down Anne-Caroline Chausson of France but she over cooked it into the last corner and washed out putting her back into eighth place.

USA’s Arielle Martin was poised for a spot in the Olympics, it was a crash in her quarter final at the World Championships in China in 2008 that cost her an Olympics berth being edged out by Jill Kintner. Motivated to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London Martin put in the hard yards and was chosen for the team. A serious crash in training saw Martin hospitalised and replaced by Brooke Crain. Arielle has returned to team USA in a coaching role.

This week Laetitia Le Corguille of France, Silver Medalist at the 2008 Olympics, announced her exit from her charge at the Olympics and BMX after fracturing her heal in the World Cup final at Manchester on the weekend.

Recently Great Britain only nominated two of a possible six male riders for the up coming world championships. Tre Whyte has proven himself a contender a number of times over these past few years but being dumped from the team means there is no chance at all for him to complete at the Rio Olympics.

I don’t know the math behind the points system, but currently GB is ranked fifth in the Men’s Olympic Qualification (not far off France who are in fourth). It’s the top four countries that receive three spots for their men’s teams. Australia has slipped down the rankings from the top spot to third after not being able to get a single rider in the finals at the first 2 rounds of the 2016 Supercross Series.

I have just one question, what happens if either Liam Phillips or Kyle Evans are injured between now and the Olympics? Wouldn’t it be nice to at least have someone qualified as a reserve? Reserves were taken to London. I remember Anthony Dean was a reserve for Australia, he didn’t get to race but look at how he stepped up after London to always be a threat on any track in any country on any day.

Certainly Supercross and Olympic level racing isn’t for everyone, but all fans of BMX love to watch the fastest riders do their thing. It would be a shame to not give the best of the best at least an opportunity to prove themselves before Olympic qualifying is actually done.

There is a petition to reverse the decision made by British Cycling, you show your support for Tre here https://www.change.org/p/micheal-pusey-mbe-reverse-british-cycling-decision

I hear that Dale Holmes will be putting together a podcast discussing the decision which will be worth checking out. You can keep an eye out here for it. http://www.daleholmes.com/