BMX racing has been an Olympic sport for men and women since which Olympics?

BMX racing has been an Olympic sport for men and women since which Olympics? The 2008 Beijing Olympics.

BMX racing made its Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. Both men’s and women’s individual BMX racing events were included, giving the sport a place on the Olympic programme alongside established cycling disciplines such as road racing, track cycling and mountain biking.

The Olympic version is a short, high-intensity race on a purpose-built track featuring a starting ramp, jumps, banked turns and rhythm sections. Riders compete through qualifying rounds before the fastest finalists race for medals. The discipline is governed internationally by the Union Cycliste Internationale, or UCI.

BMX is sometimes confused with BMX freestyle, which became an Olympic sport later, at Tokyo 2020. BMX racing and freestyle use different competition formats: racing rewards speed around a track, while freestyle is judged on tricks and manoeuvres. Beijing 2008 therefore marks the first Olympic appearance of BMX racing for both sexes.