Strombergs, Pajon take home BMX gold

Maris Strombergs of Latvia and Colombia’s Mariana Pajon have won the men’s and women’s Olympic Games BMX titles at the London 2012 Velopark. Strombergs successfully defended his title, with world champion Sam Willoughby of Australia finishing second and Colombia’s Carlos Oquendo third. In the women’s race, Pajon edged out New Zealand’s Sarah Walker to take the title, with Laura Smulders of the Netherlands claiming bronze. Strombergs, who repeated his gold medal-winning performance from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, said: ‘It’s just an amazing feeling ‘I think everybody at home, they watched the race and deep inside they, not expected it, but they’re hoping that I can repeat and I think the whole country believed in me. ‘As long as my coach has belief in me, then that’s the most important thing.’ Pajon said: ‘I can’t believe it. It’s like a dream come true. My whole life I am trying to win this. I want to win it again. I want go out the gate and win it again. It’s unbelievable.’