South African BMX Freestyle Park rider Greg Illingworth believes that the addition of the event to the Olympic programme will help to spark interest locally.
The United Kingdom-based South African will be participating in the annual Park Lines BMX Tournament in Modderfontein, Johannesburg on Saturday. This is the second edition of the event after the inaugural one was hosted in Benoni last year.
The event has attracted 50 athletes comprising of 26 professionals and 24 amateurs, two of whom being international riders. Professional riders will be competing for a share of R35 000 and other prizes. The event will commence at 10am and free entry for all.
Watch: Second edition of BMX tournament takes place on Saturday :
BMX made its Olympics debut at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and it has been part of the event ever since. It was originally a racing event, but a new freestyle category was added at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that were held last year due of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the 2022 UCI, BMX Racing World Cup season begins tomorrow where the event will take place in Glasgow, Great Britain. This season’s event will see Mariana Pajon and Simon Marquart defending their titles. Rounds 1 and 2 of the event will stream live on Olympics. com according to
π₯½ ππ π« weekend ahead! π§€
Less than 24h until the start of the 2022 @UCI_BMX_Racing World Cup!πΊ Tune in for rounds 1&2 from Glasgow ππππ on https://t.co/RG08DMKMzK#BMXRacingWC pic.twitter.com/ynTUnfCfQe
β The Olympic Games (@Olympics) May 27, 2022
The South African, who relocated to the UK, does not harbour the ambition of qualifying for the future Olympics, but is hoping it will ignite interest among young aspirant South Africans. “I think BMX freestyle having been recently added to the Olympics is making a huge difference for BMX to get recognized by the public and by many people that would not have seen it otherwise. Having our sport represented in the Olympics really gets it out to a broader audience.β says Illingworth.
He adds that people now understand what the sport is all about and more governments are more open to investing in it by building skate parks, supporting some of the athletes. Illingworth is in the twilight of his career and has recently been employed by British cycling to coach their riders aspiring to qualify for the Olympics but he would also like to contribute locally.
On his stance with regards to the future of the sport, he says he would love to coach aspiring riders in SA too in the future but not right now as there doesn’t seem to be the right support and infrastructure currently. He reiterates that if he had enough money he would give up everything and come to SA to make it happen.
This yearβs event is diverse boasting eight black riders and one female rider. According to the event organizer Ryan Van Der Spuy, BMX is a very diverse sport and after hosting the event last year, they have witnessed growth where they had only one black participant riding last year, to having eight this year.
British rider Jak Tones will be the other international rider. “We are here preparing for the park line competition I have been here since yesterday. Practice was yesterday so we have riders with different styles so no two riders will ride the same.”, Tones adds.
