Māris Štrombergs (born 10 March 1987) is a Latvian former professional BMX racer. In the 2008 Summer Olympics he became the first Olympic champion in BMX cycling. Earlier that year he won the 2008 UCI BMX World Championships.[1] In 2012 he prolonged his Olympic title by winning the gold medal in the London Olympics.[2]
 Štrombergs (left) during the 2012 Olympic Games | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname | Štrombis (Shtrombis), The "Machine" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 10 March 1987 Valmiera, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 90 kg (198 lb; 14 st 2 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Tālava, Latvian Olympic Team, Free Agent Bicycles World Team & Rockst★r | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Bicycle motocross (BMX racing) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rider type | BMX | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Professional teams | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| One | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kenda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Free Agent Bicycles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Štrombergs was born in Valmiera. His first trainer was Raimonds Ciesnieks. However, the longest collaboration was with Ivo Lakučs. Māris Štrombergs completed the Olympic 2008 BMX in about 36 seconds. Māris completed the Olympic 2012 BMX course in 37.576 seconds. Upon returning from the 2012 Olympics he was greeted by thousands of fans in hometown Valmiera.
On November 13, 2018 Māris Štrombergs announced his retirement.[3]
Career bicycle motocross titles
edit
Amateur/junior men
edit- "2001 The European youth challenge (European Challenge) Champion"
- "2005 European Junior Champion."
National Bicycle League (NBL)
- None
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
- None
Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*
- 1996 (Worlds Challenge Class), World Champion of nine years in boys' group.
Professional/elite men
editNational Bicycle League (NBL)
- "2009 Elite Men ("AA") Pro Nat.#1"
- "2010 Elite Men ("AA") Grand National Champion Nat.#1 Pro"
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
- "2009 Vice-champion"
- "2014 Pro Nat.#1 Men (AA)"
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*
- None (defunct)
Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*
- None (defunct. FIAC did not have a strictly professional division during its existence).
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*
- "2008 Elite Men Gold Medal World Champion"
- "2010 Elite Men Gold Medal World Champion"
- "2011 Elite Men Silver Medal World Champion"
References
edit- ^ "Strombergs keeps his head to win BMX gold". August 22, 2008. Archived from the original on August 24, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
- ^ "London Olympics: Strombergs defends men's BMX title". The Times of India. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
- ^ Sports, DELFI (November 13, 2018). "Divkārtējais olimpiskais čempions Štrombergs liek punktu izcilajai karjerai". delfi.lv (in Latvian). Retrieved August 22, 2019.
External links
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- Official web page
- Latvian Cycling Federation - BMX
- Video of 2008 World Championships Final
- Latvian elite BMX website
- Māris Štrombergs at UCI BMX Supercross World Cup
- Māris Štrombergs at Cycling Archives (archived)
- Māris Štrombergs at CycleBase
- Māris Štrombergs at Olympedia
- Māris Štrombergs at Olympics.com
- Māris Štrombergs at the Latvijas Olimpiskā komiteja (in Latvian) (English translation, archive)
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