In short, I would not sell out our sport to a governing body that has never been involved in it and had no genuine interest in it and I insisted on creating a direct seat at the table for the IBMXFF and our community (Athletes and Industry leaders) within the committee with majority vote.

This current aggressive push for the UCI to control our sport now is being forced by the IOC. The IOC demanded that BMX Freestyle be added to the games to appeal to the youth. I communicated with the IOC regarding these issues in August 2017 and again in January 2018 and they claimed we would be in agreement when the new president was elected. Since Mr. Lappartient was elected president of the UCI, I’ve reached out and explained our situation and history which was ignored. I then got in communications with the IOC who didn’t care to get involved. With the UCI forced to accommodate BMX Freestyle, they have allocated the minimum: 9 spots for Men, and 9 spots for Women.

Earlier last year, in February 2017, I flew to Lisbon to discuss this. I proposed Dennis McCoy (IBMXFF Vice President) and I to meet with them to share our concerns. They would not allow Dennis to join the meeting because of the speech he made when USABMX inducted him into their Hall of Fame. He spoke how he was not in favor of the UCI’s announcement that made a claim to one of our disciplines without consulting with or involving the IBMXFF. Instead of respecting his position and trying to learn from their mistakes, the UCI barred Dennis from attending their meeting in Lisbon, despite his legendary contributions to building our sport to what it is today. I, then, was very concerned for the disrespect they had for the oldest legend of our sport, still actively competing, simply because he disagreed with their impetuous claim.

I let them know we created BMX Freestyle as our own definition of sport. BMX Freestyle is “sport as art” and a lifestyle. The IBMXFF was formed with our veteran athletes and industry leaders to help direct our sport to keep it authentic and genuine.

In the Lisbon meeting, we discussed the commission is the most important element to influence the UCI to genuinely represent BMX Freestyle, as we had on many other occasions. I added how important it is that this commission is well-rounded, with pure opinions, to mold the future of BMX Freestyle in a way that is legitimate to the sport and its roots. I asked how one would become a member of the commission and how they keep it pure with the right intent. They said there is no nomination process and that anyone could be on it. It’s just who you know. I said, if this is the most important part, we need to create a system to ensure the right people are on the committee. BMX Freestyle has many opinions in the sport, making it what it is, and that needs to be embraced and protected. I proposed they should take advantage of the tremendous resources of the IBMXFF to organize and select the best people to guide our sport for the BMX Freestyle Commission.