BMX Track - OLYMPIC GAMES EDITION - Stratford, London, UK
N 51° 33.034 W 000° 00.777
30U E 707088 N 5715282
The BMX track used for the London 2012 Olympic Games is placed immediately to the east of the Velodrome towards the northern end of the Olympic Park.
Waymark Code: WMQ7TG
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/05/2016
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Wikipedia has an article about the men's BMX that tells us:
The men's BMX racing at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place at the BMX track at the Velopark within the Olympic Park, from 8 to 10 August.
Latvia's Maris Štrombergs won the gold medal — the first of the 2012 Games for the country — with a time of 37.576 seconds. Sam Willoughby, representing Australia, won silver and Carlos Oquendo from Colombia took the bronze.
The riders were seeded into four quarter-finals based on a time trial. Each of the four quarter-finals comprised five runs, using a point-for-place system. The top two riders after three runs advanced to the semi-finals (without having to finish the remaining two rides), in addition the top two remaining riders progressed after the full five runs. The semi-finals consisted of three runs, with the top four in each group advancing to the final. The final was a one-run contest.
The Telegraph's website adds:
Races are held over a short, tight, twisting circuit with multiple turns and jumps. Eight riders compete in each race.
They start from a manually operated gate and hurtle down a steep slope. First to the finish line wins. The challenge is not to fall off as you whizz around the challenging course.
The organisers do not want all the top riders to meet in the first rounds, so each competitor will race over the course once to determine their seeding and heats will be organised accordingly. The top two riders from each heat progress to the next round.
Cyclists wear long-sleeved tops and bottoms, gloves and helmets (which have full masks to protect their faces) when competing. They may also wear knee and elbow pads for extra protection.
Bikes normally have 20-inch wheels and light aluminium frames, which make them easier to handle, wide handlebars to give balance and no gears.
The British Cycling website gives further information about the track:
The brand new BMX track is located next to the velodrome in the north of the Olympic Park.
The men’s track is 450m long and the women’s is 440m long. The entire venue covers a total area of 160m by 90m, slightly larger than the size of a football pitch.
The track features an eight-metre high ramp at the start, followed by jumps, bumps and tightly banked corners.
Around 14,000 cubic metres of soil were used to build the BMX track. This soil was excavated elsewhere on the Olympic Park site, cleaned then reused to create a series of levels up to four metres high, on which the final track was formed.
Construction was completed in around six months and finished in time for the third round of the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup, a test event for the London 2012 BMX competition.
After the Games, the temporary seating will be removed and the BMX Track will be reconfigured to make it suitable for riders of all ages and abilities.
The BMX track and velodrome will be joined by a new road cycle circuit and mountain bike course to create the Lee Valley VeloPark, combining cycling facilities across all disciplines in one cycling ‘hub’.
The facility will be owned, managed and funded by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.