Māris Štrombergs

The First Rider to Win Two Olympic BMX Gold Medals

A Legend Bike Co. rider page · built from Māris Štrombergs's Olympic and UCI record, Supercross BMX's own published history, and Bill Ryan's firsthand account

At a glance

Level Elite Men, Pro
Nationality Latvian, born March 10, 1987, in Valmiera
Team Supercross BMX Factory Team — joined 2017, retired from racing 2018, returned as Team Captain in 2024
Known for The first rider to win two Olympic BMX gold medals (Beijing 2008, London 2012); 2008 and 2010 UCI BMX World Champion

Māris Štrombergs is the reason BMX racing has an Olympic gold medal history at all. He won the first one, in Beijing in 2008, the year BMX debuted as an Olympic sport. Four years later in London he won it again, becoming the first rider anywhere to win two Olympic BMX golds. He retired in 2018. He came back in 2024, not to race, but to run the team.

Valmiera to the World Stage

Štrombergs was born in Valmiera, Latvia, and started racing under his first trainer, Raimonds Ciesnieks, before beginning the longest coaching relationship of his career with Ivo Lakučs. He was winning at the European level as a teenager — European Challenge champion in 2001, European Junior Champion in 2005 — well before BMX racing had an Olympic program to aim for. That changed when the International Olympic Committee added BMX to the 2008 Beijing Games, and Štrombergs was already one of the fastest riders on earth when the sport got its first shot at a gold medal.

Beijing 2008 — The First Gold Ever Awarded

Štrombergs arrived in Beijing already the reigning UCI BMX World Champion, having won that title earlier the same year. On August 22, 2008, he completed the Olympic BMX course in roughly 36 seconds to win the first Olympic BMX gold medal ever awarded, becoming the sport's first Olympic champion outright. He was not the only rider making history that day — American racer Mike Day won silver in the same final, becoming the second American ever to medal in Olympic BMX. Two riders, one race, two countries' BMX programs changed for good.

London 2012 — Defending It

Four years later, at the London Olympics, Štrombergs defended his title, completing the course in 37.576 seconds to win gold again. That made him the first rider in BMX history to win back-to-back Olympic golds. When he returned home to Valmiera afterward, thousands of fans turned out to greet him — a hero's welcome in a country that does not have many Olympic champions in any sport, let alone two from the same rider in the same discipline. He added a second UCI World Championship title in 2010 (after his first in 2008), with a UCI Worlds silver in 2011 rounding out his run at the very top of the sport.

Joining Supercross BMX

By 2017, Štrombergs was already a two-time Olympic gold medalist with nothing left to prove, and brands were lining up to pay for his name. He picked Supercross BMX instead, joining the factory team on the Envy BLK — the brand's first production carbon frame — over offers with bigger dollar signs attached. Supercross's own company history is blunt about why that mattered: it wasn't the biggest check in BMX, it was a bike he wanted to ride. He raced it for a year before retiring from competition on November 13, 2018 — closing out his racing career on a Supercross frame, by his own choice.

The Hall of Fame Call, and Coming Back

In 2024, the USA BMX Hall of Fame inducted Štrombergs in its Modern Day Racer category. According to Bill Ryan, founder of Supercross BMX, it was that call — the Hall of Fame recognition landing six years after he'd walked away from racing — that got Štrombergs thinking about the sport again, and he rang Bill about coming back to the bike he'd always felt was his. On November 14, 2024, Supercross BMX made it official in a press release announcing his return: not as a racer, but as Factory Team Captain, sharing the role with fellow Supercross legend Bubba Harris. Two of the most decorated names in the sport's history, running the same team, side by side.

Where He Is Now

Štrombergs is Team Captain of the Supercross BMX Factory Team today, and per Bill Ryan, he's committed to the role through the Brisbane 2032 Olympic cycle — not as a competitor chasing a third gold, but as a coach preparing the next generation of Supercross riders for the Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Games. He also runs his own apparel line, MACHINE Racing, supplying race jerseys and pants to riders worldwide. The rider who once turned down bigger paydays to race a bike he believed in is now the one deciding who else gets to ride it.

Where the public record runs thin

The exact date and details of the phone call between Štrombergs and Bill Ryan that led to his 2024 return are known only through Bill Ryan's firsthand account and are not independently documented elsewhere. The full scope of his coaching and team-captain duties beyond what Supercross BMX has publicly announced is also not detailed in the sources checked for this page.

Where Māris Štrombergs fits in the bigger story

Team: Supercross BMX, co-captained today with Bubba Harris. Founder: Bill Ryan. Connected by the 2008 Beijing final: Mike Day, silver medalist the same night. The 2008 US Olympic BMX roster was selected by Mike King, USA Cycling's BMX program director. The bigger arc is in our History of BMX series.

Sources

Wikipedia, "Māris Štrombergs" — birth details, coaching history, European titles, UCI World Championship record, and the November 13, 2018 retirement announcement. Supercross BMX, "History of Supercross BMX," supercrossbmx.com — the 2017 signing on the Envy BLK and Štrombergs's choice of Supercross over higher-paying offers. Supercross BMX, "Supercross BMX Announces Re-Signing of 2x Gold Medalist Maris Strombergs" (press release, November 14, 2024) — the co-captaincy with Bubba Harris and framing of his return. USA BMX Hall of Fame, Class of 2024, Modern Day Racer category. Bill Ryan, founder of Supercross BMX — firsthand account of the Hall of Fame call, the decision to return, and the Team Captain role through the Brisbane 2032 cycle, as published on his own Legend Bike Co. page.