Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's BMX

The women's BMX racing competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on August 20–22 at the Laoshan BMX Field, the first to be officially featured in the Olympic cycling program.

Women's BMX
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueLaoshan BMX Field
DateAugust 20, 2008 (seeding)
August 22, 2008 (semifinals and final)
Competitors16 from 13 nations
Winning time35.976
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Anne-Caroline Chausson
 France
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Laëtitia Le Corguillé
 France
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Jill Kintner
 United States
2012 →

Coming out of retirement from her sporting career to try out for BMX at age thirty, France's Anne-Caroline Chausson escaped from an early race crash that left two riders off the ramp to claim the event's inaugural Olympic gold medal. She thundered home on the final stretch to a spectacular finish with a fastest time in 35.976.[1][2] Chausson also enjoyed her teammate Laëtitia Le Corguillé taking home the silver in 38.042, as she finished the race behind the leader by nearly seven hundredths of a second (0.07) and also, handed the French squad a straight 1–2 finish on the medal podium.[3] Meanwhile, United States' Jill Kintner came up with a powerful, stalwart ride to earn the bronze in 38.674, edging out New Zealand's Sarah Walker by a short sprint distance.[4][5]

Qualification

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Sixteen riders representing twelve countries qualified for the event. Qualification was based on UCI ranking by nations, 2008 UCI BMX World Championships results and wild-cards reserved to a Tripartite Commission (IOC, ANOC, UCI).[6]

Competition format

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Each of the 16 women competing performed two runs of the course in individual time trials to determine seeding for the knockout rounds. Then, they were grouped into 2 semifinal groups based on that seeding. Each semifinal consisted of three runs of the course, using a point-for-place system. The top four cyclists in each semifinal (for a total of 8) moved on to the final. Unlike the semifinals, the final consisted of a single race with the first to the finish line claiming the gold medal.[7]

Schedule

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All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)[8]

Date Time Round
Wednesday, 20 August 2008 09:45 Seeding
Friday, 20 August 2008 09:00 Semifinals and final

Results

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Seeding

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Rank Name Country Time Notes
1 Anne-Caroline Chausson   France 36.660
2 Shanaze Reade   Great Britain 36.882
3 Laëtitia Le Corguillé   France 37.145
4 Sarah Walker   New Zealand 37.187
5 Gabriela Díaz   Argentina 37.590
6 Nicole Callisto   Australia 37.717
7 Jill Kintner   United States 37.913
8 Jana Horáková   Czech Republic 38.077
9 Jenny Fähndrich   Switzerland 38.209
10 Tanya Bailey   Australia 38.285
11 Lieke Klaus   Netherlands 38.709
12 Amanda Sørensen   Denmark 38.719
13 Samantha Cools   Canada 39.137
14 María Belén Dutto   Argentina 40.193
15 Anikó Hódi   Hungary 41.772
16 Ma Liyun   China 42.015

Semifinals

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Heat 1

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Rank Name Country 1st run 2nd run 3rd run Total Notes
1 Anne-Caroline Chausson   France 36.931 (1) 37.028 (1) 36.747 (2) 4 Q
2 Sarah Walker   New Zealand 37.499 (2) 39.038 (3) 36.731 (1) 6 Q
3 Gabriela Díaz   Argentina 37.605 (3) 38.235 (2) DNF (8) 13 Q
4 Samantha Cools   Canada 39.765 (6) 39.457 (5) 38.690 (3) 14 Q
5 Jana Horáková   Czech Republic 39.107 (5) 39.457 (4) 1:32.284 (7) 16
6 Jenny Fähndrich   Switzerland 38.658 (4) 45.912 (7) 52.687 (6) 17
7 Ma Liyun   China 41.789 (7) 41.497 (6) 41.839 (5) 18
8 Amanda Sørensen   Denmark DNF (8) 47.469 (8) 39.474 (4) 20

Heat 2

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Rank Name Country 1st run 2nd run 3rd run Total Notes
1 Laëtitia Le Corguillé   France 37.917 (1) 37.130 (1) 37.076 (2) 4 Q
2 Jill Kintner   United States 38.950 (3) 39.700 (3) 38.235 (3) 9 Q
3 Shanaze Reade   Great Britain 2:17.714 (7) 39.218 (2) 36.699 (1) 10 Q
4 Nicole Callisto   Australia 38.244 (2) 47.311 (6) 38.435 (4) 12 Q
5 Lieke Klaus   Netherlands 40.955 (4) 40.143 (4) 38.800 (5) 13
6 Anikó Hódi   Hungary 44.021 (6) 41.867 (5) 40.169 (7) 18
7 María Belén Dutto   Argentina 41.307 (5) 47.927 (7) 40.295 (8) 20
8 Tanya Bailey   Australia DNF (8) DNF (8) 39.505 (6) 22

Final

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Rank Name Country Time Notes
  Anne-Caroline Chausson   France 35.976
  Laëtitia Le Corguillé   France 38.042
  Jill Kintner   United States 38.674
4 Sarah Walker   New Zealand 38.805
5 Gabriela Díaz   Argentina 39.747
6 Nicole Callisto   Australia 1:19.609
7 Samantha Cools   Canada DNF
8 Shanaze Reade   Great Britain DNF

References

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  1. ^ "Chausson of France wins first BMX gold at Olympics". Xinhua News Agency. 22 August 2008. Archived from the original on August 24, 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  2. ^ Thomazeau, Francois (22 August 2008). "Chausson wins BMX laurels 21 years apart". Reuters. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  3. ^ "France takes gold and silver in women's BMX cycling". France 24. 22 August 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  4. ^ Bishop, Greg (23 August 2008). "Ailing but Elated, U.S. Team Wins 3 Medals in Debut of BMX". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  5. ^ Johnson, Tim (23 August 2008). "Kintner earns BMX bronze". Seattle Times. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  6. ^ http://uci.ch/includes/asp/getTarget.asp?type=FILE&id=MzU5MTI[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "BMX Competition Format". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  8. ^ "BMX: Results and Schedules". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.