Olympic moment of the day: France complete clean-sweep of the medals in the men’s BMX racing
By Ben Morse, CNN
(CNN) — There are occasions at the Olympics Games where you can sense a moment that will live long in the memory. Friday evening at the BMX park in Paris was one of those occasions.
There haven’t been many atmospheres quite like it, with French tricolore flags flying and chants of “Allez les Bleues” ringing out from the majority in attendance.
And they had a reason to be excited.
They were about to watch the men’s BMX final in which three French riders – Joris Daudet, Romain Mahieu and Sylvain Andre – were about to take part.
Little did they know how well it would turn out, with the three riders filling out all three podium sports, completing an unlikely French 1-2-3.
The three, in their white, red and blue uniforms sprinted ahead of the pack from the beginning of the race, flying over the bumps majestically and navigating the turns accurately before eventually crossing the finish line almost in unison to the delight of the raucous crowd in attendance.
Daudet was the eventual gold medal winner with a time of 31.422, Andre finished in silver 0.284 seconds behind while Mahieu won bronze.
The trio ran to embrace each other as the arena exploded into celebration of their new-found home favorites before they posed for photos holding the French flag aloft.
It was a remarkable moment that will go down in Olympic history and one that writes Daudet, Andre and Mahieu into French sporting folklore.
It was a special moment for Daudet in particular with it being the culmination of years of hard work for the 33-year-old. He has been on the BMX scene for a while now, and has won four gold medals and 12 medals in total at the World Championships.
However, this was his fourth Olympic Games and he had never previously won an Olympic medal. Well now, he is a gold medal winner and stands alongside his fellow countrymen on the podium.
As if the day couldn’t get any better for Mahieu after his bronze, but he had a first-hand watching brief to see his girlfriend Saya Sakakibara win gold in the women’s race just minutes later.
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