By Geert De Clercq
PARIS (Reuters) - China may not be the first country that comes to mind for BMX Freestyle but coach Daniel Dhers says the country has identified the sport as an opportunity to boost its medals count and has high hopes for its two entrants in the women's event.
Introduced to the Olympics at Tokyo 2020, freestyle has one of the smallest athlete quotas in Paris - 12 men and 12 women - and China has two female riders in the mix, both coached by Tokyo silver medallist Dhers of Venezuela.
"Freestyle is really new in the Olympic world and China saw the opportunity," Dhers, 39, told Reuters.
China's freestyle drive originated from its "119 project" launched ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, to focus on sports in which China was not traditionally strong and which - at the time - accounted for 119 medals.
Dhers, who narrowly missed qualifying for Paris, said China had wanted to send freestylers to Tokyo but the COVID pandemic got in the way.
In April last year China turned to Dhers, a BMX veteran whose North Carolina skatepark has long been a training ground for riders, including Swiss Nikita Ducarroz, who trained there ahead of winning bronze in Tokyo.
Chinese female BMX riders took three podium spots at the Shanghai Olympics qualifier in May, and two qualified for Paris.
"I help them funnel their energy into what needs to be done to win medals," said Dhers.
China has a men's team too but Dhers said they may still be a decade away from being capable of winning an Olympic medal in the more competitive world of men's freestyle.
Dhers said the days when BMX was the domain of defiant city youths were long gone. Riders are much more serious about their sport now.
"In my time, we would party till 5 a.m. and show up hungover for competition. All that changed in the early 2000s," he said.
Dhers said his riders can win gold.
Sun Jiaqi, 20, finished fourth in Tokyo and Deng Yawen, 18, topped the podium at the 2023 UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Cup.
Staying out until 5 a.m. is the last thing on their minds.
Deng told Olympics.com that BMX is her sole focus.
"Most of my life is taken up by BMX," she said.
For Dhers, America's Hannah Roberts - a five-time world champion and Tokyo silver medallist - is the one to beat.
"Hannah is very strong. Realistically, we have a good chance of silver and bronze," he said.
Qualifiers start on Tuesday, finals are on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
