Roger Rinderknecht failed to make his way into the finals of the Olympic BMX race competition. Three semi final heats had to be mastered. Roger crashed in the first one, became third in round two, but had a bad hang-up in the last run.
Hopefully this year’s silver medal at the mountain bike 4X World Championships will help Roger to be on the rebound.
Everything looked quite good for Roger after the quarterfinals on Wednesday 20th. The Swiss rider had placed first and third in two of the three runs, so his participation in the semi finals was secured even though he crashed in his first run. The semifinals themselves had to be rescheduled from Thursday 21st on Friday 22nd because of heavy rain.
On Friday morning, the biggest day of Roger Rinderknecht's career had come. Roger had to compete against Maris Stromberg (Latvia), Rob van den Wildenberg (Netherlands), Jared Graves (Australia), Damien Godet (France), Cristian Becerine (Argentina), Kamakazi (Australia), and Manuel de Vecchi (Italy).
In the first run, Roger managed to get in position three before the first corner. But then he leaned a little bit too much into the inner side, touched Damien Godet and crashed hitting the ground pretty hard. He was not able to finish his run.
Second run, second chance: Roger had a good start, but fell back on the fifth position before the beginning of the first turn. Right then, Roger found the perfect line, passed two of his competitors and had only Maris Stromberg and Rob van den Wildenberg in front of him after the corner. The constellation of the first three riders stayed the same. Roger finished on third place in front of Damien Godet.
The third and last run had to be also a good one for Roger to make his way into the finals. Roger gave his best and went on second position after the first corner. But then it happened: Roger had a bad hang-up on the following big sized double and got passed by all of his competitors. First he tried to catch up with them, but after the big road gap, which he had to wheel thru, he knew, that this had been his last run of the Olympic Games. He passed the finish line in low speed with his elbows on the handlebar and his head in his hands.
Maris Stromberg (Latvia), Mike Day (USA), Donny Robinson (USA), Andres Jimenez (Colombia), Rob van den Wildenberg (Netherlands), Jared Graves (Australia), Sifiso Nhalpo (South Africa) and Damien Godet (France) were the ones to battle for the Olympic medals in the finals. The complete pack of riders stayed pretty compact until the second corner, where Sifiso Nhalpo slipped out. Sifiso hit the ground really hard and took Damien Godet as well as Jared Graves with him. Afterwards, non of the American riders - neither Mike Day, nor Donny Robinson - were able to get Maris Strombergs, who won gold. But Mike got the silver medal, Donny the bronze one.
Results finals:
1st Maris Stromberg (Latvia), 36.190 sec
2nd Mike Day (United States), 36.606 sec
3rd Donny Robinson (United States), 36.972 sec
4th Andres Jimenez (Colombia), 39.137 sec
5th Rob van den Wildenberg (Netherlands), 39.772 sec
6th Jared Graves (Australia), 2:19.233 sec
7th Sifiso Nhalpo (South Africa), DNF
8th Damien Godet (France), DNF
The premiere of the BMX race discipline at the Olympic Games was exciting and action packed. All riders who did not manage to get on the podium can look forward to a second chance in London 2012. But for sure, all competitors will be delighted in some way now and happy to have some spare time to be spent with their families, like Roger does.
Hopefully see you all back then in 2012 at the Olympic Games in London.
For more general information about Roger Rinderknecht, please visit the rasoulution website or Roger's homepage:
www.rasoulution.com and
www.rogerrinderknecht.com
