Racing was going good, I got through my quarters comfortably, with 2 wins and a second after thinking there was noone behind me and shutting it down mid last straight and allowing Roger Rinderknecht to pass.....ooops haha, no worries in the end.
Semi finals and the Final were meant to be the next day, but it poured rain all day so it was postponed till Friday, I was a little bummed on this coz I recovered really well overnight and was feeling fresh and ready to go for finals day, whereas a lot of other guys were saying they loved the day off and were feeling a bit tired from the 1st day, oh well what can you do...
I felt good though again when racing did get going, but I was hitting the gate all day long, Not sure why that started happening, I was just a bit anxious to get going, so that was making things hard for me and I wasnt getting my normal fast starts, still didnt have to many dramas in getting through to the final, I just tried to stay out of trouble and had a 2nd, 5th and 3rd, which gave me 3rd lane pick for the final.
I felt really good for the final, fairly relaxed and just looking forward to the race, I hit the gate again, not a great way to start and got squeezed out, so I decided to chill a bit down the 1st straight and hit the inside hard on turn 1, I knew that move was on, and it worked out great!
I stuck my nose in front for a second, but didnt get the best exit speed from the corner but I was right back in it, maybe I should have come over a bit further on the exit of the turn and shut Strombergs down but not much I can do about that now. Mike day got a good run down the 2nd straight but I still came into the 2nd turn in 3rd, Donny Robinson was coming up hard on the Inside and so was Sifiso, seems like Sifiso tried a bit too hard into turn 2 and he lost it and took myself and Damien Godet down with him, but no hard feelings, he was just trying to win an olympic medal, as was everyone else. But it would have been really nice to come away with a medal.
I'm getting a bit sick of these situations where my finals just arent working out, no excuses, I have things to work on and ill keep plugging away, it's all fuel for the fire!
Maris Strombergs rode unreal all week, he was always the guy to beat and he proved that during racing. So a big congrats to him for being the first ever BMX gold medallist.
For me im a bit bummed on how it worked out, but being in there and in the final was an unreal experience, its so much different to any other race ive ever done, and you could tell everyone was feeling the pressure.
Im unhurt after the final, so ill be all good for the MTB world cup back home in Australia next weekend!
Ill have a lot more indepth stuff to write about from this whole olympic experience as soon as Canberra world cup is done and I can finally relax and enjoy some rest at home!
thanks for all he support everyone has been giving me since the final, it's great to hear the stories from everyone who was back at home cheering for me!
more soon
Gravey!