New sports for this year’s Olympics will be marathon swimming (for both men and women), women’s 3000-meter steeplechase, and… BMX racing!

Just as halfpipe is now part of the official Winter Olympics jargon, its X Games cousin, BMX racing, is now joining the Summer Games. For the first time in Beijing, BMX racing will be an Olympic medal sport for both men and women. BMX is an off-road bicycle racing form in which eight racers circle around a 350-meter dirt track. What started out on dirt tracks in California, now races at well-groomed tracks with jumps, obstacles and even electronic gates. Race last roughly two minutes, and there are no extra points for flair or spectacular flips in the air. The most fun comes in watching the passing in the turns and physicality of the jumps. The one who gets to the finish line first is the winner.

Although officials from the American Bicycle Association and the BMX community had been trying for nearly 30 years to get BMX into the Olympic Games, it wasn’t until 2003 when the International Olympic Committee finally decided that 2008 would be the right time to introduce the sport to the Games. According to Bernard “B.A.” Anderson, vice president for the ABA, BMX racing is “preparing for 40 percent growth” following the Games.

“It’s been an ongoing process,” said Anderson, noting the ABA has spent much of the past two years improving infrastructure at various tracks in preparation for post-Olympic growth. “I think this will bring in a whole new audience to the Olympics.”

Via ESPN.com