Photo Credit: Tristan Shu / ESPN Images
On June 8, 2017, “Inside the Games” announced that freestyle BMX and skateboarding will be added to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, in 2020. BMX riders will compete in “park,” which will be the same skatepark that skateboarders use. Both men and women will be competing.
Freestyle BMX is facing a few challenges here in the United States. Team USA likes to bring home the gold, but will that be possible for BMX riders?
The biggest problem facing Team USA is not the lack of funding (the International Olympic Committee does not fund first-time sports) or the issues with governing bodies fighting for control (Union Cycliste Internationale vs. the International BMX Freestyle Federation); at home, the major problem is that cities have shut BMX out of almost all of the 3,500 public skateparks.