SM
Club Brugge vs. Aston Villa: 17 hrs 59 mins
Upcoming predictions and previews
Collect News Data

Tokyo 2020: Liam Gallagher pays tribute to BMX star Beth Shriever

:Headline: Tokyo 2020: Liam Gallagher pays tribute to BMX star Beth Shriever:
British Cycling are also keen to keep broadening the diversity of those competing across the cycling disciplines.
Sports Mole

A tweet from Liam Gallagher neatly illustrated what Beth Shriever's Olympic BMX gold medal can mean for British Cycling.

As performance director Stephen Park was busy explaining how Friday's double success in Tokyo – Kye Whyte took silver in the men's race – can help cycling diversify, the former Oasis front man jumped on social media to make the point for him.

"BMX racing at the Olympics is blowing my mind," Gallagher wrote. "Bethany Shriever what a ledge well done LG x"

It is hard to imagine Gallagher joining the army of middle aged men in lycra spawned by the success of Sir Bradley Wiggins et al, but his reaction to the medals won by Shriever and Whyte on Friday show the doors they can open for the sport.

British Cycling's goal coming into these Games was to diversify in more ways than one.

As usual in Olympic sport, it began with medal targets and the need to find new avenues for success as the dominance enjoyed for so long in the velodrome comes under threat.

Mountain biking and BMX – including the new freestyle events which make their Olympic debut this weekend – were the obvious opportunities, even if UK Sport did not agree, initially denying funding to the men's mountain bike and women's BMX for this cycle.

Like Shriever, Tom Pidcock won gold in an event not initially awarded UK Sport funding (PA)

British Cycling's performance director Stephen Park feared the consequences of closing those doors and successfully lobbied to reallocate funding.

The idea was that this might pay off in Paris, but Great Britain now end the opening week of these Games with gold medals in both of the disciplines.

More than that, they have new faces with which to expand the sport's reach.

Cycling, particularly on the road and on the track, has come in for justified criticism about its lack of diversity.

But both Whyte and Shriever represent change for British Cycling.

"What we hope from a British Cycling perspective is that people can associate with a Beth Schriever or a Kye Whyte, and we're able to broaden the diversity of the participants in cycling," Park said.

British Cycling performance director persuaded UK Sport to fund disciplines initially cut from the Tokyo cycle (Peter Byrne/PA)

"Whether you're all in for the Tour de France, mountain bikes, or BMX hopefully there's something for everyone and that draws more people in to the sport."

Whyte's roots in south London, where his father is a co-founder of the Peckham BMX Club that has become a honing ground for elite talent, represent a very different backstory to most other members of the Great Britain squad.

"In BMX there's a lot of black kids coming up who are doing well," the 21-year-old said.

"I feel like people are realising BMX is for everyone...Those kids see it as an opportunity to not be in trouble, to not roam in the streets doing silliness, they can just be riding a bike and having fun."

His brother Tre, whose own Olympic hopes were ended when the pandemic cut short his opportunity to qualify, has now been hired by British Cycling to work in outreach projects in London.

Selling the message becomes a lot easier when Olympic success puts the sport on the back pages.

It all offers vindication for Park following his determination to find funding for every discipline on the road to Tokyo.

"I would very much hope that from a UK Sport perspective as well as a British Cycling perspective that the idea of trying...to inspire a wider population across our society is better addressed when we've got people winning in the different disciplines," he said.

"When we actually see those medals coming it allows us to join the dots of some of the things we say but are harder to show when we don't quite get the results."

body check tags ::

amp_article__457454 : Collect and Make Data not in DataBase  : 
last updated article - 2021-07-30 12:37:38:
html db last update - 2021-07-30 12:37:38 :

ex - 7200 : read : write cache and make html

Click here for more stories about Beth Shriever

Share this article now:
BS
Read Next:
Today at the Olympics: GB athletes make BMX history
>


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!
Read more about Beth Shriever Stephen Park Liam Gallagher Cycling
Follow @SportsMole for the latest breaking news stories, and follow @sm_headlines to get every headline from Sports Mole
Recommended Next on SM
Today at the Olympics: GB athletes make BMX history
Hat-trick hero: Gyokeres nets three and Amorim excels as Sporting stun Man City

Page options

Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Fulham104331413115
10Bournemouth104331312115
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
12Brentford104151920-113
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133
Scroll for more - Tap for full version


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

history www

UEFA Champions League all-time top scorers

NEW

1

UC

Preview: Chelsea vs. Noah - prediction, team news, lineups

2

PC

Preview: FCSB vs. Midtjylland - prediction, team news, lineups

NEW

3

PF

Preview: Ajax vs. M. Tel Aviv - prediction, team news, lineups

NEW

4

PA

Bernabeu breached: Real Madrid fall to another home defeat against AC Milan

5

BB

Sancho among 11 changes? Chelsea predicted lineup vs. FC Noah

6

SA

Champions League 2024-25: How many points do teams need to qualify for knockouts?

7

CL

Preview: Man Utd vs. PAOK - prediction, team news, lineups

8

PM

Team News: Inter Milan vs. Arsenal injury, suspension list, predicted XIs

9

TN

Man City confirmed XI: Haaland decision made as 19-year-old makes full debut

10

MC


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .