OLYMPICS – China’s first-ever Olympic summer games also marks the first time BMX athletes can go for the gold in the world’s most prestigious athletic event. Forty-eight BMX cyclists will bring the sport from its humble dirt track origins in Orange County, Calif., all the way to the Laoshan Mountain track in Beijing. BMX racing is different from other Olympic cycling events in several key ways: the races last less than a minute, the bikes are small and low to the ground, and the racers must wear protective gear over their faces, heads and joints to protect against likely collisions. SINGAPORE – water sports organisations are in a jam after receiving advise about unhealthy water quality at two popular areas. The National Environment Agency (NEA) warned on Wednesday that the waters off Pasir Ris Beach and in Marina Reservoir are unsafe for those sports where total immersion is likely. These include wakeboarding, waterskiing and swimming. Even sports with less water contact are affected. Kayaking, canoeing and dragon boating, for example, require capsize tests, where athletes must swim back to shore with boats in tow, among other things. High levels of a type of bacteria normally found in the faeces of warm-blooded animals were present in the two areas and could cause illnesses such as diarrhoea and conjunctivitis. USA – X-Jam came to Reno, Nevada, as part of Hot August Night’s but it ended a week early. The X-Jam was meant to include motocross, extreme sports, hot cars and headliner bands, but, 48 hours after it started, the event was over. Vendors and folks at the Sands Regency say one by one the performers cancelled, finally the security pulled out and the sands had to end the first X-Jam. Surfing The 27th edition of the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) 5-Star Rip Curl Boardmasters in association with Relentless kicked off yesterday with Round 1 being completed in consistent three foot (one meter) waves at Fistral Beach in the famous British surf town of Newquay. An international field of 48 men paddled out to try to advance through to Round 2 and join the event’s top seeded competitors who will get their turn out at sea tomorrow morning. Today’s thrilling action came from Australian brothers Luke and Brent Dorrington (AUS) who respectively posted the highest heat result and second highest wave score of Day 1. Luke Dorrington (AUS), 23, easily dominated Heat 8 to defeat Thiago Camarao (BRA), Chad Compton (USA) and local top junior surfer Reubyn Ash (GBR) with an impressive 17.73 point heat result (out of a possible 20) including a 9.00 point ride (out of a possible 10). Brent Dorrington (AUS), Luke’s two-year younger brother, will be one to watch tomorrow as well after his performance in Round 1. Brent, 21, came up with excellent surfing in the low tide conditions putting together powerful turns and progressive moves to secure a 9.50 point ride (out of a possible 10) en route to winning Heat 10. The upset of the day came when former ASP Top 45 member and Newquay local Russell Winter (GBR) was eliminated in Heat 6 by former top European junior surfer Rafael Ayme (REU). Winter, who broke his arm three months ago, was surfing in his first contest since the ASP WQS 6-Star Prime O’Neill Highland Open and lacked good enough waves. {mosimage} Most of South Africa’s top surfers aged 20 and under will be amongst the 136 competitors at Victoria Bay in the Southern Cape from Thursday to Sunday this week for the fourth of five stops on the 2008 Billabong Junior Series. With the series set to crown its 12th annual champions in September, all but a handful of the top contenders in the Pro Junior (U20), U16, U14 and U12 age categories will be jockeying for positions in the Vic Bay event and ratings points on the leaderboard. Want to win a custom built surfboard? Get your entries in to win your brand new “Gold Coast Surfboards ” surfboard, custom made for this competition – the surfboard will be delivered to the winner, anywhere in the world.