BEIJING, Aug 20: South Africa’s Sifiso Nhlapo, the only African competing in BMX cycling at the Beijing Games, could give the new sport at the Olympics rare exposure back home.

In a country that is dominated by soccer, cricket and rugby, Nhlapo decided to take a different route.

“BMX is not as popular as cricket and soccer, but it is getting there and more people will obviously know about it now that I am here,” he said after qualifying for the semi-final.

Nhlapo’s first bicycle was not for fun, it was for necessity. His mother could not take him to school, so he had to make the 30-minute ride there from a young age.

The first time he saw his white schoolmates manoeuvring their BMX, or bicycle motocross, bikes at the local track, he was enthralled.

“I was 13 when I started with BMX, and that is pretty late if you want to compete internationally. I loved it because it looked like so much fun.”

He begged his mother for a professional bicycle.

“It was so expensive and I was hesitant because children change their minds so often about which sport they like. But I could see he really liked it, so I spent the unbudgeted money,” said his mother Thokozile Mhlanga, the only spectator flying the South African flag at the preliminaries.

The 21-year-old Nhlapo has a fighting chance of a medal. He trains in Switzerland and qualified for the Olympics when he finished third at the 2008 World Championships.

“They announced BMX would be an Olympic sport when I was 16, and I’ve been preparing myself since,” he said.

“I am competing with 32 of the best in the world and I am just hoping to make it to the final.”

He just could if the traditional Zulu cheering of his mother, who works for the Cycling South Africa federation, does the trick. She is not even distracted by the crashes.

“It is dangerous, they fall so often but I am not really worried because he knows what he is doing. But I was very scared when he was unconscious for four hours after a bad fall in Germany [at the European Championships] in May,” she said.

The semi-final and final of the Olympic debut sport will be held on Thursday.—Reuters