Our reporters, staying at a hotel near Gare de Lyon, have a range of travel choices to reach the BMX freestyle location at Place de la Concorde, with only one potentially managing to provide a refreshing breeze on this swelteringly hot Tuesday afternoon.
Vélib’ Métropole is a pioneer in city bike services, offering 19,000 bikes—of which 40% are electric—at stations every 300 meters across the broader Paris area. It is cost-effective, cheerful and offers the opportunity to practise some wheelies and bunny-hops along the Seine to set the mood.
A day pass costs only €5 and the 6.1km journey along the Left Bank, passing by Notre Dame up to Invalides then crossing over to Concorde, lasted 32 minutes—leaving me soaked in perspiration under Paris’s harsh July heat.
Covering 19 acres, Place de la Concorde is the largest of the many notable squares in Paris, forming a link between the Champs-Elysées, the Jardins des Tuileries, and the Louvre. It has temporarily been transformed into four arenas hosting the most avant-garde of Olympic sports: BMX freestyle, 3×3 basketball, skateboarding, and breaking – a fusion of street dance, hip-hop culture and DJ sounds that athletes must synchronise their moves to.
The resonating sounds from these venues reach you before you catch sight of them. They are all neatly situated around one of the Luxor Obelisks, which was relocated here from Egypt in the 1830s, and are located close to the Jardins des Tuileries, currently home to the Olympic torch.
BMX freestyle qualifications took place on Tuesday afternoon. Making its Olympic premiere in Tokyo, it joins BMX racing, a part of the Olympics since the Beijing games in 2008. The venues exude coolness and majority of spectators are young, accompanied by graffiti artists adding further vibrancy to the Olympic boards.
This might also be my first Olympic sport. Prior to my father introducing me to running, my elder brother would get us outside trying out new tricks on our BMX each day; we were novices attempting the 180, the fakie, and the bar ride.
In Paris, only the top 12 male and female riders from around the globe have qualified. None of these participants are well-known, but they’re already proficient in their respective sport. Hannah Roberts, an American, became a world champion at the tender age of 16, while the current world champion and men’s gold favourite is the 23-year-old Brit, Kieran Reilly.
Each competitor has to execute their preferred stunts over an array of nearly 20 ramps and quarter-pipes, including near-vertical take-offs, with only a minute on the clock. They get two attempts and are scored on average, leading to a ranking that determines the top nine advancing to Wednesday’s final.
The heightened temperature also poses a challenge. First up in the women’s qualification is 29-year-old Perris Benegas from the USA. Hailing from Reno, Nevada, Benegas has already become an inspirational figure for the upcoming generation of Olympians. She’s been passionate about cycling and travelling from a young age and is currently living that dream.
Benegas’ fluid style is very evident and captivating. The commentator echoes the crowd’s excitement as he describes her performance, complimenting her smooth approach and the aggressive stunts she executes while against the ticking clock.
The competition is fierce, with participants continuously throwing out some seriously astounding stunts like the 540 bar spin, the backflip, and the bike flip – and, of course, the Parisian favourite, the cancan.
In Tokyo, Brits Charlotte Worthington and Declan Brooks were seeded fourth and seventh respectively, and they stepped onto the podium with a gold and a bronze in their possession, a testament to the unpredictable nature of the event.
Worthington failed to deliver her Tokyo performance in Paris and didn’t make the cut to the finals, finishing 11th. Roberts emerged as the top qualifier here, closely trailed by two Chinese participants, with Bengas qualifying at fourth.
French cyclist Laury Perez secured the final qualifying spot, her competition being a cycling discipline where France has yet to earn an Olympic gold. Britain’s hope for securing gold again rests with Reilly, who is the top qualifier among the men. David Walsh, a journalist from The Sunday Times, is present, interested in Reilly’s performance but also appreciating the vibrant spectacle of cycling.