Jose Torres Gil wins a surprising gold medal for Argentina in the Olympic freestyle BMX finals

PARIS (AP) — Jose Torres Gil watched as British world champion Kieran Reilly and French superstar Anthony JeanJean threw down a pair of freestyle BMX runs at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday that a lot of people at La Concorde thought deserved gold.

The judges thought otherwise, however, and they were the ones who mattered.

The rider from Argentina opened with a massive 720, threw down another 720 later in the run and managed to ride through a near-bobble at the end to score 94.82 points. That was better than everyone else, including his own second run, when Torres Gil pieced together another big score that also would have nearly landed him on the podium.

“The level was extraordinary,” said Torres Gil, who delivered Argentina its first medal of any color at this Olympics. “The best athletes on the planet were here in Paris. I competed against the best in the world, and I feel incredible.”

Reilly had the final chance to capture gold, and his run was worthy of the top step any other day. In fact, he was so pleased with it that he chucked his bike to the ground in satisfaction, only to find his score of 93.91 come up just short.

JeanJean crashed on his opening run but mounted a big comeback, getting the home crowd into his performance in the urban sports park at Place de la Concorde. But the judges awarded him only 93.76 points, relegating him to the bronze medal.

Marcus Christopher of the United States finished just off the podium in fourth. Rimu Nakamura of Japan was fifth.

“I think looking at World Cups and any continental we have, and comparing it to this one — this one blows it out of the water,” Reilly said. “You saw a lot of people put in a lot of work to debut new and higher levels and that's what we saw in the finals.”

The defending gold medalist, Logan Martin of Australia, crashed out of both of his runs. He had a good first one going before a slip on an innocuous jump at the end cost him. His second ended after just a few seconds when he clipped a landing.

There was plenty of amplitude — and very little shade — on a hot day in Paris. It was the second time the freestyle version of BMX has been on display at the Summer Olympics, and the riders managed to up their game three years after Tokyo.

Nobody higher than Torres Gil, who was not considered among the favorites for gold, or perhaps even the podium.

But the 29-year-old from Cordoba caught everyone by surprise, beginning with his first huge transfer on his first run on one of the biggest parks the freestyle BMX riders will ever see. Torres Gil continued to carry speed around it, his transitions crisp and landings even better, and the third run of the entire finals turned out to be the best.

Not that everyone agreed.

Jeanjean crashed so hard on his opening jump that his white shoe flew of his foot and went skittering across the park. But he landed the same jump on his next go, and his crowd-pleasing run that wrapped with a double backflip had a packed crowd on its feet and cheering. Jeanjean dismounted on the course and stared at the scoreboard until his score was flashed.

“Everyone wanted a foot on the podium. Everybody was capable of doing it,” he said. “There was no room for error.”

Reilly had the last chance, and he also was pleased with his run. He hugged his coach and BMX legend Jamie Bestwick at the end, and was greeted by British teammate Charlotte Worthington, whose hopes of defending her Olympic gold medal ending in the qualifying rounds. But when Reilly's score was finally revealed, it was good enough only for silver.

“I still haven’t thought about what I just achieved. I’m not very expressive. I don't express my emotions very easily,” Torres Gil said. “My medal is for everybody. I’m so happy. I’m full of emotions. We have a lot of athletes who have come here to represent Argentina and are trying to get a medal. I'm representing all these athletes.”

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Dave Skretta, The Associated Press