BMX Research

I have decided to make a BMX documentary for my video unit in Media Studies and this post is about some research I have found on BMXING;

History: BMXING was created by a group of kids during the late 1960s and early 1970s. They modified their existing bikes to replicated motorbikes and the newly popular motocross vehicles. The new sport was born in California named dubbed bicycle motocross but was shortened to BMX shortly after.

Competitions: The sport has moved away from motorcycle racing as this is what it was imitating when it was first invented and has now moved into different forms of competition. The X Games put on by ESPN is an annual extreme sports competition. It includes BMX contests such as racing, vert and street as well as Big Air and Best Trick. When the sport isn't being partaken in for competition reasons it is mainly split into 3 categories. Dirt, Park and Street, although a lot of people enjoy partaking in at least 2 or 3 anyway. Dirt BMXING is all about doing dirt jumps instead of being at a skatepark. There are normally bigger jumps and trails. This means you would be following a set course instead of going round a skatepark. Park BMXING is all about riding at skateparks. There are normally a mixture of ramps, boxes and rails at skateparks and allows people to learn certain tricks using these facilities. Finally street BMXING is as the name suggests riding your bike on certain parts in the street. This could be anything from a gap, ledge, hand rail, stair set, pretty much anything that can be found to do a trick from.

Global Recognition: The sport was never received globally as it was mainly seen as just youth riding around on small bikes. A lot of people grew to hate people who rode BMX and labelled them as a nuisance.BMXING received a huge honor in 2003 when the international olympic committee voted for the sports to be included in the next olympic games. It started in the 2008 olympics but was mainly racing with jumps included, but it is hoped that this will move on in the near future.