Olympic News: Phil Liggett says MTB and BMX shouldn't be in the Games, Cav recces Box Hill again

Tbh couldn't agree more

What a load of bollox. He's living in the past.

I didn't understand what this bit was trying to say - it is ambiguous:

"He said disciplines like BMX and mountain biking simply should never be in the Olympics, given they were not the pinnacle of their sport."

I agree that they ballsed up the track events - they should have ditched the omnium and kept the individual pursuit, if they absolutely had to lose an event. They claimed that they wanted to make track more understandable and appealing to those new to it - but the individual pursuit is the simplest and most easily understandable of all races to watch, as well as being very exciting.

As to whether or not BMX and MTB should be there - I don't see why not really. They require fitness and great skill, just like the track. They don't have quite as much history, but that doesn't make them unworthy of the olympics. I can't really see what Liggett is arguing - he hasn't really said anything except that he doesn't really like them.

I'd expect comments like this from an uninformed outsider but it seems Ligget is becoming a seriously bigoted, grumpy old man...
I can't even watch ITV4's TdF coverage anymore because of his (and Sherwen's) ignorant comments.
I agree that removing the track events is outrageous but to suggest that BMX & MTB have no place at the Olympics is shameful.

Liggett lost the plot a lot time ago folks. He maintains that Lance didn't dope "because he looked me in the eye and told me so" (this was at an event at Look Mum No Hands a couple of years ago) and he generally doesn't understand much of what is going on on screen. I do however agree with him about the track events - I've been racing for 20 years and I have only the vaguest notion of what the omnium is. How the public work it out.... but I don't see why he has a problem with bmx and mtb. They are huge cycling cultures in themselves and there is huge public participation in them. Can you imagine the old boy's reaction if they introduced downhill onto the agenda??!!

Following Phil's logic though the road race shouldn't be there cos the Olympics certainly isn't the pinnacle of the sport either. In fact I'd say if you were going to use the 'pinnacle of the sport' argument MTB and BMX would be in there ahead of road cycling.

Mind you, imagine what he would have said if the UCI had managed to get skateboarding under it's wing and classified as an Olympic sport, which they were trying to do a couple of years back.

As a mtber primarily, this really annoys me. Look at how many top class road racers have come out of mtb. Hesjdal, Evans, Sagan, Kessiakoff to name a few. I dont know why road development teams don't look at mtbers more often (or maybe they do, I'm not sure!). Anyway, the point is that mtb (and bmx)are massive part of cycling and Phil is still living in a time where he thinks mtbers are hippies in Cali on klunkers, and not some of the most well rounded athletes in cycling. Can't be long before he retires, every year David Harmons commentary makes his stuff look worse and worse.

"...They introduced BMX. Great, but I am sure [Olympics founder] Pierre de Coubertin would have laughed his head off if he found out it was an Olympic discipline."

He seems rather ill-informed about how broad the scope of the Olympics has been since its founding in 1890. Painting was a medal event in the 1920's.

http://www.h2g2.com/approved_entry/A87734505

I'm not making a judgement about what should be in and what should be out, perhaps Ligget should've thought a bit before flapping his gums as well. It's an event synthesised out of the cultural whims of its age, that's one of the reasons the content changes.

He probably wants Olympic etching and poetry to be reintroduced.

Wasn't the test MTB race really well received by riders and spectators and maybe this time the course, although not mountainous by any stretch of the imagination will help provide a much better MTB race?

The real point here is that the Track schedule is curtailed to make way for BMX & MTB in some way! How? Why cant the track events go beyond 1 week? Its not as if they have to make room in the velodrome for something else? Just smacks of UCI dictatorship ... managing to rig the "games" to suit their purpose which seems to dilute the domination of cycling events by one country (if they can!)!! If there had been a longer track schedule then maybe more of us would have got tickets!
Watching the games on TV cos can't get tickets & won't pay for something that was going to be free on principle!
Com'on Cav!

It has to be said though that many ex-MTBers and BMXers do go over to the road/track and rarely the other way round and that, to me, says something about the status of the respective disciplines.
BMX is grown ups on children's bikes and Mountain biking is grown ups acting like children.
Road cycling is for real grown ups.

Chris Hoy made his competitive debut in BMX too

While the individual pursuit was "the" track event the most watchable has to be the devil which is only in as part of the omnium.

Pretty shortsighted comment in general. And agree with some of the ITV4 commentary.

He would have been better placed to say that he thinks the ommitted track events should have been kept in at the expense of some of the other olympic disciplines rather than focussing on other cycling events that he seems to have issue with.

IMHO darts could easily be argued to be included as a discpline given that shooting or archery are already included. But obviously I'd never actually want that!!

Ideally I'd make way for MTB (XC and DH), BMX (racing, dirt or flatland)- and CX for that matter - as olympic disciplines over some of the other "sports" that are currently included as events

Dirt Mag is dissing the Olympic mountain-biking for being rubbish. I'm not very convinced many mountain-bikers care much whether it's in or out. I could certainly do without it.

BMX and mountain biking have the X Games, that is where they belong.

Surely if anything needs to be cut its the incessant swimming?! People winning 7/8 golds in a single games is a joke. I'm sure Hoy would have got 7 had they introduced lots more 'almost exactly the same as the last event but just a tiny bit different' races like in the pool. Kilo, kilo whilst on the blue line, kilo the other way round the track...

The BMX and MTB events take place in a different place, with different people, to the track events. The dimunition in track races isn't caused by the existence of BMX and MTB.

Can't say I have an opinion on MTB racing in the Olympics, but I think BMX certainly has its place and it beats me why cyclocross isn't in already too. Cycle polo may well merit a place as well in time to come.

I frequently hear patronising comments about BMX and small wheels from road riders when I'm practising. I often ask them if they want a shot and when they take me up on it they generally make it halfway round the track before realising it's a whole lot more demanding than they'd appreciated. Throw in seven other riders and fierce cornering technique and you have an Olympic sport that's up there with boxing and fencing in terms of channelled aggression.

Maybe i'm wrong here but to me bmx is a miny version of mtb ?

smaller bikes on a smaller dirt track with a few jumps, bumps and corners. I dont mean it cant be an Olympic sport though as for goodness sake we have synchronized swimming - to me that should not be allowed full stop never mind an Olympic sport.

PS Liggett is a bufoon