Māris Štrombergs

Māris Štrombergs, born on 10 March 1987 in Valmiera, is a Latvian BMX racer who retired from professional riding in November 2018. He is remembered above all as the first Olympic champion in BMX cycling: when the discipline made its Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer Olympics he took the gold medal, and he won the title again at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Earlier in 2008 he had also won the UCI BMX World Championships. His first trainer was Raimonds Ciesnieks, and his longest working partnership was with the coach Ivo Lakučs. He finished the 2008 Olympic course in about 36 seconds and the 2012 course in 37.576 seconds, and he was welcomed home by thousands of fans in Valmiera after the London Games.