Imagine yourself on a podium, you did it! You just won a medal for yourself, for your family, for your friends… FOR YOUR COUNTRY. This dream is entirely possible, especially now with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics adding in Freestyle BMX to the line up.
Question is… how do you get one of the 9 spots available? Although it’s still too early to get all the details, we reached out to Bart de Jong – BMX Freestyle Advisor to the UCI, for some insight before the official qualifying process, TBA February 2018.
Bart de Jong “9 spots are available for the girls for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020. The qualifying process will be announced in February of 2018. When we look over to the BMX Racing side of things, who already have three Olympic Games behind them, a similar qualification system could be in place where riders score points for their nation to be able to send a rider to the Games in Tokyo.
Most likely the UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup events leading up to the 2020 Olympic Games will be used for the qualification process plus the UCI Urban World Championships. This has yet to be determined but it could be similar to the nations ranking that BMX racers go through leading up to their Olympic Games. Ending up in a qualifying spot for your country will be the first step. After that it will be decided (by the national cycling federation BMX Freestyle ‘coach’) who will represent your country at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. A lot of things are in the development stages at the moment but will be shared as soon as we can.
Next to the Olympic Games in Tokyo (2020), BMX Freestyle is also part of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Soon we’ll have more information about that qualifying process but once again we’ll have both boys and girls participate in Buenos Aires in 2018 in BMX Freestyle Park.
The 2017 UCI Urban World Championships in Chengdu, China to be held on 8-12 November 2017, will be the qualifying event for this. More details to be published shortly but girls aged between 15-18 should prepare to qualify their nation for a spot at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Argentina. If you were born between 1-1-2000 and 31-12-2001, this is the time for you to get ready for the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018.”
Check the following sources for updates
Web: http://www.uci.ch/bmx-freestyle-park/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UCIBMXFreestyle/
Twitter: @UCI_BMX_FS
Instagram: UCIBMXFREESTYLE
February 2nd 2018: 2018 UCI BMX Freestyle Stops http://www.uci.ch/bmx-freestyle-park/calendar/
January 8th 2019: Follow Up To https://www.thebloombmx.com/2019/01/follow-up-to-compete-in-2020-tokyo.html
