Australia's hopes for an Olympic medal in the inaugural Olympic BMX
competitions have been dashed after Jared Graves and Nicole Callisto
crashed out during the women's and men's finals.
Graves
was in an excellent position to claim a medal but crashed on the
second-last bend after his back wheel was clipped by a competitor
behind him.
The men's gold medal went to Latvia's Maris Strombergs.
World
No.2 Graves started well and took the crucial first turn perfectly, but
South African Sifiso Nhlapo hit the dirt and took Graves down with him.
Strombergs held off American stars Mike Day and Donny Robinson for the title, who won silver and bronze respectively.
Strombergs took control from the start of the rapid-fire race and never let go of the lead.
Graves had to settle for sixth.
In the women's final, Callisto also finished sixth after crashing on the first corner.
In a drama-packed decider, gold went to Frenchwoman Anne-Caroline Chausson.
Her
compatriot Laetitia le Corguille made it a French quinella by snaring
silver and Jill Kintner of the United States won the bronze.
Britain's
Shanaze Reade was in silver medal position on the last bend but she
collided with Chausson and crashed out of the race.
In today's
semi-finals, Graves was the third of four qualifiers from but fellow
Aussie Kamakazi missed out after finishing his three semi-final heats
sixth overall. Only four riders qualified from each semi-final.
In the women's competition, Callisto advanced as the fourth and final qualifier, but fellow Aussie Tanya Bailey missed out.
By Scott SpitsCheck out the pics of the BMX finals.