REPORTING FROM ... BMX IN BEIJING

Alyssa Roenigk

It was a bluish sky day.

[Ed.'s Note: Alyssa has already written an Olympic BMX preview, this piece for espn.com, a feature on Donny Roinson (with video!) and this piece on Mike Day].

Before the first riders dropped into the BMX supercross course Wednesday morning, no one knew what to expect from the newest Olympics cycling discipline. But everyone involved in bringing BMX to the Games knew a lot was expected. Fortunately, the races didn't disappoint.

All three U.S. men qualified into Thursday morning's semifinal and Jill Kintner, the only female member of the U.S. team, qualified 7th out of the 16-woman field.

Mike Day had the time trials' fastest time and was the only rider to win all three of his quarterfinal heats. Donny Robinson crashed in his first of three quarterfinal heats, but recovered and qualified third out of his eight-man heat. Kyle Bennett had two strong opening heats, but wrecked in his third and separated his left shoulder. Medics surrounded Bennett on the course and a U.S. team doctor popped his shoulder back into place. Bennett then got back on his bike and rode, one-handed, to the finish. As of Wednesday afternoon, Bennett was still a game-time decision for Thursday's semifinal.

If this was BMX's coming out party, then it was only appropriate there was an international shindig taking place in the stands. BMX icon Bob Haro, the founder of Haro Bikes who recently designed the blue checkerboard Nike kicks the U.S. BMX team wore on Wednesday, sat in section 105 and watched the sport he helped create make its Olympic debut. "The whole thing, it's just amazing," he said, stopping after the race to take a photo with Kintner and her coach Greg Romero. "To see BMX be respected, it's redeeming in a way."

A few rows in front of Haro sat the members of the Donny Robinson and Mike Day fan clubs. Robinson's mom, dad, sister and girlfriend all made the trip to Beijing, and were wearing dR Robinson T-shirts with his number, 10, on the back. Day's dad, cousin and her husband were sporting the Mike Day T-shirts Kinter designed for the U.S. Trials. And Kintner's mom and brother sat a few sections away, although you could hear them cheering from just about any spot in the stands. "I was so nervous this morning," mom Jan Kintner said. "I was a mess. I got halfway to the track and realized I forgot the tickets."

Now that the nerves are out of everyone's systems, Thursday should be a much calmer day—for everyone but the 32 men and women competing in the race. Rumor has it that Beijing's two biggest fans/athletes asked for tickets to the BMX final, so we'll let you know if Kobe and LeBron actually put those tickets to use.

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