Māris Štrombergs (born 10 March 1987) is a Latvian former professional BMX racer. In the 2008 Summer Olympics he became the first

Olympic champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

in BMX cycling. Earlier that year he won the 2008 UCI BMX World Championships. In 2012 he prolonged his Olympic title by winning the gold medal in the London Olympics. Štrombergs was born in

Valmiera Valmiera (; german: link=no, Wolmar; pl, Wolmar see other names) is the largest city of the historical Vidzeme region, Latvia, with a total area of . As of 2002, Valmiera had a population of 27,323, and in 2020 – 24 879. It is a state cit ...

. 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.

Career bicycle motocross titles

Amateur/Junior Men

*"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

National Bicycle League The National Bicycle League (NBL) was a United States–based Bicycle Motocross (BMX) sports sanctioning body originally based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, but after several moves it was based in Hilliard, Ohio. It was created by George Edward Es ...

(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 The ''Union Cycliste Internationale'' (UCI; ; en, International Cycling Union) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues raci ...

(UCI)* *"2008 Elite Men Gold Medal World Champion" *"2010 Elite Men Gold Medal World Champion" *"2011 Elite Men Silver Medal World Champion"

References

External links

Official web page

Video of 2008 World Championships Final

Latvian elite BMX website
* * * * * * 1987 births Living people BMX riders Latvian male cyclists Olympic cyclists of Latvia Olympic gold medalists for Latvia Olympic medalists in cycling Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics UCI BMX World Champions (elite men) People from Valmiera {{Latvia-Olympic-medalist-stub