Somewhere in Corby is a barber who can expect a generous tip from Kieran Reilly the next time the BMX star pops in for a skin fade. The 23-year-old Geordie, whose larger-than-life personality stands in inverse proportion to his 5ft 2in stature, took silver in one of the most thrilling events of these Games so far on Wednesday, and then joked that his “lucky mullet” had helped him.
Even if he never meant to get one. “I used to just get a taper fade,” Reilly told the media after his incredible final run, which ended with something called a ‘720 double tailwhip’, was only deemed by the judges to be good enough for second place. “I literally went to the barbers, he botched it and I thought ‘You know what, this is the ideal time. I’m growing it out! I’m going to have a mullet.’ And as I was growing it out, I went to the Euros, my first competition with it, done well [he won gold] and thought ‘I quite like this.’ So yes, you could say it’s a lucky mullet! I’m not superstitious but it’s doing its job.”
Mullets aside, this was a serious business. What a final. What a sport. Should BMX freestyle be an Olympic discipline? Does it deserve its place at the Games? That is a matter for debate. Many purists decry the rise of ‘urban’ pursuits such as BMX and skateboarding deeming them to be a naked attempt to get ‘the yoof’ onside.
Maybe. But what you can say with absolute certainty is that the BMX freestyle requires mind-boggling levels of bravery, skill, dedication and athleticism. And it is highly entertaining. Some of the tricks on display in the final left the crowds slack-jawed, staring in disbelief at what they had just seen, trying to compute how many times this or that rider had spun his bike around in mid-air whilst simultaneously performing a backflip.
Fortunately, we had an American PA announcer who sounded as if he had come straight from the X Games but was incredibly helpful. “Did you see that? “Backflip tailwhip down the step-down!” he would scream. “Harder to do because it’s a steeper landing.”
Reilly, going off last after topping qualifying on Tuesday, had the advantage of knowing what everyone had done in their runs before he did his. The issue was that the Argentinian Jose Torres Gil had simply set too high a benchmark. Torres’s first run of 94.82 (“Damn, that is how you make your presence felt in the final!” roared the PA announcer) proved to be unbeatable, though everyone had a good crack.
Home favourite Anthony Jeanjean landed awkwardly on his first run and lost a shoe. Reigning Olympic champion Logan Martin managed a “table flip” before he too crashed out. Reilly moved into silver medal position with his first run, which was packed with more tricks than a magicians’ convention. In the second and final run, Jeanjean beat Reilly’s score with an extraordinary performance many in the crowd felt should have been good enough for gold, relegating Reilly to the bronze medal position before his final run.
The reigning world champion was never going to be content with that. “I wanted to go for gold,” he said afterwards. “I wanted to leave everything out there.” He did that and more. Reilly literally followed the Olympic motto ofCitius, Altius, Fortius to the letter, going higher and faster than ever.
“Today I ended my run with a 720 double tailwhip which in this last year of competing would have been the biggest trick in my entire run,” he said. “So to finish with that, under fatigue, took a lot of commitment.” He ended by throwing his bike to the ground and sinking to his knees, awaiting the judges’ scores.
He admitted he thought he might have done enough. The judges, whose scores are based on a variety of criteria from execution to amplitude, flow to risk factor, did not agree. Although 93.91 was enough to lift him back up to second.
“Jose rode absolutely amazing – I would never take that away from him,” Reilly shrugged. “But either way I’m happy. Watching that back tomorrow I know I’ll be proud of what I did.”
Reilly’s parents and grandparents, his brother and sister, many of them wearing the colours of their beloved Newcastle United, were certainly proud. Their colourful presence in the stands has also been one of the highlights of these Games. “I actually got asked for my dad’s phone number yesterday [by Adidas] to sort him one of the new strips,” Reilly revealed.
What next, he was asked. Would he like to be asked to parade his medal at St James’ Park? “I would love to parade this around St James Park,” Reilly exclaimed. “I would love to parade this around a box at St James Park! Season’s not started yet if anyone wants to offer…”
