Here’s how Liam got on in the Beijing and London Olympic Games in the words of the man himself.

Liam Phillips on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Beijing 2008 Olympic BMX Racing format

32 men competed, first performing two runs of the BMX track in a time trial to determine their seeding for the knockout rounds that follow – with only their best run counting as their official time.

In Beijing there were four quarter-finals, made up of eight riders each. Each quarter-final consisted of three runs, with each rider being awarded a point-per-place at the end of each run – so if you finish first you get one point, and if you finish eighth you get eight points – and the four riders with the least amount of points at the end of the heat progressing through to the semis.

The semi-finals were run in the same manner, with the best four riders from each heat progressing through to the final, where the winner of a single race was awarded the gold.

How did Liam do at the Beijing 2008 Olympics?

A 19-year-old Liam was first out of the gates for the time trials at Beijing 2008, recording a time of 37.392 round the course and earning him a seeding of 28^th place, just under two seconds behind Mike Day, who would qualify as top seed with a time of 35.692 seconds.

“You can certainly get overawed by the whole occasion and what the Olympics is and I feel like that’s one of the biggest challenges.

“I was the very, very first rider to actually do anything in competition in BMX in the Olympics – doing a time trial. I was the first guy to come in off the ramp and that is pretty special.

“It was something that I look back on with fond memories and that helped me in London for sure…”

“At the time I did get quite a hard time from the wider BMX public worldwide though. They saw the Olympics as it should be the top 32 fastest guys in the world going to the Games, but as is the same with all sports – it’s never the case.

“There are so many sports where the World Championships that year are harder than the Olympics because there are limited numbers in the field and even the top nations in the world still only get to send three guys, whereas in the World Champs they might have eight or nine. The field is always deeper at World Champs but for me, I loved every minute of Beijing.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time and I learned so much in Beijing just from how bonkers it is! It’s so surreal. It was something that I look back on with fond memories and that helped me in London for sure.”

Liam Phillips on the London 2012 Olympic Games

London 2012 Olympic BMX Racing format

32 riders were again involved in the Olympic BMX Racing at London 2012, with a time trial again being used to decide seedings, though this time around the time trial only consisted of one run.

Riders were then split up into four quarter-finals, each of which would this time comprise of five runs, though the points-per-place system would remain.

The top two riders after three runs would advance automatically to the next round, and not have to compete in the final two runs, and the remaining top riders after all five runs had been complete would join them in the semi-finals.

The semi-finals then comprised of just three runs, like in Beijing, with the top four riders from each heat progressing to the one-run final, where the gold medal would be awarded to the winner.

The final of the London Games was a huge disappointment for Liam, after he unclipped from his pedals and crashed out early on having been quickest out of the start gate. As a result he finished in eight place in the final with a time of 2:11.918, with Latvia’s Maris Strombergs again taking the gold.

Liam on His Injury and Training Before the London 2012 Olympic Games

“I had my surgery to put the plate in exactly 10 weeks before the first day of competition at London 2012,” he said.

“It’s weird looking back because you look at things differently than at the time. I remember going to the hospital and being over the moon that I had only broken my collarbone. I thought it was much worse than that. It was a horrendous crash and I don’t wish for too many of them in my career.

“After a few weeks of having the injury I found out there were some other injuries; I had broken my shoulder blade too, but nothing that was going to keep me out for longer than the collarbone anyway. So I remained really upbeat and positive and I was still able to get some really good work done.

“Obviously you roll the dice at that point, but 10 weeks is a long time to be able to get things back in order…”

“Obviously you roll the dice at that point, but 10 weeks is a long time to be able to get things back in order. We basically split things into five week blocks. The first five weeks I didn’t touch my BMX bike at all and just did stuff on the stationary bike and did some good gym stuff, but you’ve got to be careful when your collarbone has been plated, because it’s an artificial anchor and it makes your body and mind feel like your body and your shoulder has completely healed. Of course it’s only being held together by a metal plate.

“I thought I was ready to go but I was being held back by the medical team which was a wise thing, looking back now. The first five weeks was very much gym focused and the final five weeks was really heavily track focused. I was still able to get a huge amount of work done, and I wasn’t in as good shape as I was before the crash at the World Championships – I have been in better shape since then but I was in unbelievable shape – but I know looking back that I had the physical form to win that race.

“I was still in good physical shape going into London all things considered. I think that’s testament to the guys around me really. We had a clear plan from day one.”

Liam Phillips on the Racing at the London 2012 Olympics

“If you look back at the final race, I was leading the final coming out of the first ramp then I was in second then I was in third going round the turn and I think if I had had a bit more exposure being on the podium at big races leading up to that I would’ve been on the podium at the Olympics too,” he continued.

“I’m obviously lucky enough to have had that now; I’ve won some big races over quite a few years and I think that the experience I’ve gained from that will set me up well for the summer [in Rio].

“It was definitely different to Beijing. In Beijing they had people in the crowd holding boards up telling people when to cheer, and then obviously you got to London and there were 6,000 people there to watch you.

“For me, I just felt so humbled by the whole experience. I thought every single day that I was going to go out there and do the best I could, because I couldn’t believe that 6,000 people, the vast majority of whom weren’t anything to do with BMX, had spent their hard earned money watching a sport that isn’t a traditional Olympic sport and was still new to the Olympics. That for me was crazy.

The same system will apply in the semi-finals until eight riders have qualified for the one-run final.

The women will proceed directly from seeding to semi-finals.

Liam Phillips on His Season Ahead of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games

Liam said: “Our seasons change a little bit [on Olympic years] because we do a lot more races earlier on, and it’s all in quick succession before the 11 or 12 week window where there is no racing before the Olympics.

“There’s always going to be some sort of lottery element to it, but I’d like to think that the last couple of years have minimised that element…”

“For me, it’s obviously been a massive focus of mine for a long time [to win the Olympics] and it’s always been in the back of my mind. The only thing that really changes on an Olympic year though is that target of Rio just becomes more prominent the closer it gets. I’m solely focused on the world cups and then the World Champs that in Colombia that come before it at the moment.

“I’ve only got three or four races before the Olympics, so I’m just looking to do the best I can at each stop. I like to look at numbers and I know that I did 53 races all in last year, including heats and everything, and I won 47. I’m looking to replicate that and nudge it up as well. If I can win more races than that then going into the Olympics I’m putting myself in the best possible situation to be successful. That’s all you can do.

“There’s always going to be some sort of lottery element to it, but I’d like to think that the last couple of years have minimised that element. I’ve produced performances that have been good enough to get on the podium regularly and that should put me in good stead in Rio.”

You May Also Like

BMX Racing: The Basic Rules, History, Olympics and Everything You Need to Know

The Liam Phillips Interview | We Speak to the Team GB BMX Star About Beijing, London and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics

Team GB BMX Star Liam Phillips on Inspiring The Next Generation at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics