This Wednesday, August 17th, begins the BMX events at this year’s edition of the Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro. Both women’s and men’s BMX racing events have already started for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The newest of the cycling events, the Olympic Committee made the decision to include BMX as a full medal sport in 2003, and it made its Olympic debut eight years ago, at the Beijing 2008 Games. Those who live in the United States and have a cable or satellite subscription can watch live coverage of all the events at NBCOlympics.com.
However, users must verify their subscription by signing in with an username or email address, and a password. Users can also download the free official NBC Sports app for the device of their choice. Naturally, the same authentication mentioned before applies to the app.
It’s available in the iTunes App Store, the Roku Channel Store, the Google Play Store and the Microsoft App Store.
How to watch Rio 2016 BMX for those without a subscription?
Those in the U.S. who don’t have a cable or satellite subscription can watch NBC Sports Network’s coverage starting at 2:00 pm EST with the Sling TV streaming service.
Select channels are available for a monthly fee with this service, which is only available to users in certain parts of the country, including Washington D.C., New York, Miami, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Hartford.
Sling TV also offers a free app, which is available for many devices, besides computers, it can also be downloaded from the Apple TV, the iTunes App Store, the Amazon Fire TV or Amazon’s own App Store; the Roku, the Xbox One, and Google Play.
What about Canada and the UK?
Canadians get lucky as they can watch a live stream for free, without a cable subscription necessary, at Olympics.CBC.ca. There’s also a dedicated app (CBC Rio 2016) available for free, although only via iTunes App Store or Google Play.
There’s also a dedicated app, CBC Rio 2016, available for free, although only via iTunes App Store or Google Play.
For those in the UK, they can watch a live stream courtesy of BBC.com, for free, with or without cable or satellite subscriptions. BBC offers their iPlayer app (Windows Store or Xbox One, Google Play Store, Apple App Store), or their BBC Olympics app (Google Play Store and iTunes App Store).
Great Britain’s Liam Phillips, in his third Olympics.
Ever since its debut almost a decade ago, Liam Phillips of Great Britain has participated in every BMX event of the Olympic editions to date. Phillips was born and raised in the seaside town of Burnham-on-Sea, learning about the sport at the local Burnham BMX Club, which is managed by the Phillips family.
He made his Olympic debut at Beijing 2008, at the age of 19. And today, at 27, he prepares for the current edition of the Games. As the current world champion at BMX, and the number one in the world, it’s no surprise he’s one of the favorites to win.
Phillips himself notes that getting a medal meant a lot to him, particularly after his crash in the London 2012 Supercross finals. Back then he was recovering from an injury, a shoulder surgery ten weeks before the opening race. This time, he suffers from a collarbone injury.
However, Phillips is confident in his abilities in spite of this, much like four years ago in London, and is pretty sure in these Olympics; he’s had a great, consistent last few years in the world of BMX. Phillips says that he’ll just go and ride his best, and hopes to perform as well as he has in the past few years since London.
“I’m riding my bike well; I’m in great physical shape, and I’m looking forward to going out there and racing, which is what I enjoy, lining up against the best guys in the world and trying to win,” said Phillips.
About his role as Team Leader, Phillips comments that he feels it’s natural for his character and notes how he feels it’s important he helps younger members with his experiences, which include two prior Olympics.
Source: British Cycling