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
Teams Free Agent Bicycles World Team, a KHS division, through the Olympic years; then Supercross BMX Factory Team — retired from racing 2018 on a Supercross frame, 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, elite world silver 2011
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, with teammate Donny Robinson taking bronze right behind him to complete an all-American 2-3. Three 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. An Olympic gold and a UCI world title are separate things and this page keeps them separate: two of the first, two of the second, and one elite world silver.
Leaving Free Agent, and Joining Supercross BMX
Both Olympic golds were won on Free Agent. Štrombergs rode the Free Agent Bicycles World Team, a division of KHS Bicycles — the Buena Park garage brand KHS took on for distribution in 1994 and bought outright in 1996 — through the years that made his name.
Bill Ryan gives the next part firsthand, and it is short: Štrombergs rode for Supercross after he left Free Agent, and he finished his career on a Supercross (Bill Ryan, firsthand, 2026). Bill gave no start year for that ride, and none is asserted on his authority here. The 2017 date that follows comes from Supercross BMX's own published company history — the brand writing about itself, which this library does not treat as independent. No period team announcement, catalog, results sheet or outside press release placing Štrombergs on a Supercross before his retirement has been located.
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. By Supercross's own account 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. That is the brand's telling of a decision that flatters the brand, and it is flagged here as such. What both accounts agree on is the ending: he retired from competition on November 13, 2018, closing out his racing career on a Supercross frame.
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.
Bill adds one more piece firsthand, and it is worth saying plainly what it is and what it is not: after the Hall of Fame induction, in Bill's telling, Štrombergs came back and said he wants to make Supercross huge. Bill did not say which hall of fame he meant, or when the remark was made. It is a warm line about a brand, from a rider, reported by the man who owns that brand and edits this library, and no published source records it. Read it as something Štrombergs said to Bill — not a business arrangement, not a signed commitment, and not a current endorsement (Bill Ryan, firsthand, 2026).
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.
The Supercross years are thinner still. Bill Ryan gave no start year for the ride and none is asserted on his account; the 2017 signing date rests on Supercross BMX's own published company history, which is a self-published source about itself. No period team announcement, catalog, results sheet or outside press release confirming Štrombergs on a Supercross before his November 13, 2018 retirement has been located. When and why he left Free Agent, and whether the two rides overlapped at all, are not on the record anywhere this library has reached.
On the remark that he wants to make Supercross huge: Bill named no hall of fame and gave no date for it. The USA BMX Hall of Fame Class of 2024 induction is what this page documents independently; the remark is tied to it only by Bill's own sequence of events, not by any source. Supercross BMX is Bill Ryan's company and this library is his, and that is handled the same way here as it would be for anyone else's brand — see How This Library Is Made.
Where Māris Štrombergs fits in the bigger story
Olympic-era team: Free Agent, a division of KHS. Team after that: Supercross BMX, where he finished his racing career and co-captains 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. Free Agent Bicycles World Team, a KHS division, as his Olympic-era team — see this library's KHS and Free Agent chapters. 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; self-published by the brand and treated as such. 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, September 9, 2026 — that Štrombergs rode for Supercross after leaving Free Agent, that he finished his career on a Supercross, and that after his Hall of Fame induction he came back and said he wants to make Supercross huge. Bill gave no start year for the ride, named no hall of fame and gave no date for the remark, and none of those has been supplied here. Bill Ryan is also the source for 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.
Conflict of interest. Supercross BMX is owned by Bill Ryan, who publishes this library. Every Supercross claim on this page rests either on his own testimony or on Supercross's own published material, and none of it has been independently corroborated. It is labeled throughout rather than smoothed over. The standard is set out in How This Library Is Made.