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Olympics Cycling BMX live stream: Watch online – August 17th

By Brad Weiss

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 10: The field pass over a jump in the Men's BMX Cycling Final on Day 14 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the BMX Track on August 10, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 10: The field pass over a jump in the Men's BMX Cycling Final on Day 14 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the BMX Track on August 10, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) /
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The 2016 Rio Olympics BMX competition gets underway on Wednesday, as both men and women have their seeding rounds.

The BMX events of the 2016 Rio Olympics get started on Wednesday, as the men and women take to the course for their seeding rounds. The men will have 32 riders competing, while the women will only have 16. All 48 riders will be battling it out for lane positions in the heats.

BMX is the newest portion of the cycling at the Olympics, having made its debut during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. France’s Anne-Caroline Chausson won the first gold medal for the women in this event. In 2012, Columbia’s Mariana Pajon took the gold, finishing with a time of 37.706. Pajon is in Rio to defend her title, but will have to stave off solid field to do so.

The women begin their seeding run at 12:30pm ET, and do not race again until Friday. All women qualify directly for the semifinals, which will be followed by the medal race later on in the day on Friday.

The men’s seeding run will take place at 1:34pm ET on Wednesday, and due to the fact they have twice as many riders as the women, they will have a quarterfinal on Thursday. All 32 riders will qualify for the quarterfinals, where the field will shrink to 16 for the semifinals on Friday.

The men’s final will be run on Friday as well, with the fastest three times collecting medals. Latvia’s Maris Strombergs is by far the best in class in this event, and he is the only rider to ever take gold in this event. Strombergs won in the inaugural competition in Beijing, and then came back to successfully defend his title in London.

He is the favorite to win again in Rio, but he will have to stave off Australia’s Sam Willoughby and Columbia’s Carlos Oquendo, who finished with the silver and bronze respectively in London.

Related Story: 30 Olympic athletes who dominated their events

Details for the Olympics diving competition on Tuesday are below:

Date: Wednesday, August 17
Start Time: 12:30pm ET
TV Info: NBCSN (Not live, Coverage starts at 2:00pm ET)
Live Stream: NBC Olympics

It is a short competition, but is one that is filled with crashes, speed, and excitement.

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