Fil-Am rider fails to live up to hype

LONDON – Fil-Am cyclist Danny Caluag claimed he had cuts and bruises all over his body after negotiating a treacherous 450-meter course in five heats but said the pain wasn’t a factor in failing to live up to expectations of a medal finish in the BMX (bicycle motocross) event before 6,000 fans at the Olympic Park here Thursday.

Caluag, 25, was involved in a five-man spill rounding the first bend in his initial heat and got up to finish fifth of eight riders with a time of 1:02.086 – way above his time trial speed of 40.9 seconds. American David Herman was eighth and last after walking off the track, unable to continue due to the crash. In the second heat, Caluag dropped to seventh with a clocking of 40.75 seconds as Herman jumped to third. Caluag improved slightly to sixth in the third heat, timing 39.902 seconds. He was tied with three others for fourth place but fell to sixth after officials consulted a video in the photo finish.

Under competition rules, the top two finishers of each eight-man bracket were awarded outright tickets to the semifinals after three heats. That meant eight riders advanced from the four groups, leaving 24 to battle for the remaining eight semifinal slots in two more heats.

Caluag racked up 18 points in the first three heats while No. 1 Connor Fields of the US had three points and the UK’s Liam Phillips six to earn the semifinal berths. A point corresponds to a rider’s finish in a heat so that Caluag’s 18 points came from finishing No. 5, No. 7 and No. 6 over three races. Fields was first in all three heats so that his total was three points. The lower the points, the higher the finish. 

Caluag was virtually out of contention starting the fourth heat but didn’t give up. However, he could only finish fifth of six with a time of 40.342 seconds. In the fifth heat, Caluag was sixth and last, clocking 41.109 seconds, to wind up with a combined 29 points. Herman and Switzerland’s Roger Rinderknecht took the last two semifinal slots from Caluag’s heat with 18 points apiece. It was a comeback triumph for Herman who didn’t even cross the finish line in the first heat.

At the end of five heats, Caluag ranked eighth and last in his bracket. Overall, he was 28th of 32. His consolation was he finished in every heat. Two riders, New Zealand’s Kurt Pickard and Brazil’s Renato Rezende, skipped the last two heats due to injury and six registered at least a DNF (did not finish). Latvia’s Edzus Treimanis posted a remarkable recovery after winding up last in the time trials after failing to finish in the third heat the other day as he qualified outright for the semifinals with 12 points in the first bracket.

“It was a long day and I gave it my all,” said Caluag. “In the first heat, I tried to block off what happened in that spill. I’ve got cuts and bruises all over my body. Overall, I’m happy with my performance because I gave it my all. In BMX, anything can happen. For instance, you wouldn’t expect the world champion (Australia’s Sam Willoughby) to do two extra heats to qualify for the semifinals. The world’s best were out there. It’s the Olympics.”

Caluag said he’ll bounce back from his first Olympic experience and build on it to contend for honors in the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games and the next Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Still huffing after completing five runs, Caluag sat on his bike to talk to media and surprisingly, had something else on his mind, not the competition. He said he was concerned about the Filipinos who were affected by the rains in Metro Manila and prayed for their deliverance from the disaster. One other thing, Caluag offered words of inspiration to aspiring young athletes. “If you put your mind on it, you can achieve anything,” he said. “For the young kids coming up, believe in yourselves and in what you can do.” It was a different Caluag from the day before when he brushed off his poor showing in the time trials and boasted he would be competitive in the races because that’s what BMX is all about – battling seven others in an extreme battle of survival on a challenging track. Caluag never lived up to the hype.

Although Caluag said he lacked international exposure before the Olympics, the records showed otherwise. Last March, he placed seventh at the Asian BMX Championships in Hong Kong and two months after, ended 24th – his best international finish – at the BMX Supercross in Birmingham. Caluag trained in the Netherlands and Canada before arriving here last July 29, 10 days ahead of his competition schedule to familiarize with London conditions. 

“We gave Danny all our support,” said Philippine delegation chef de mission Manny Lopez. “He was our last hope for a medal. We arranged for two days of training in Birmingham after he arrived and we allocated day passes for his family to visit the Athletes Village.”

All Caluag did on the track was to reaffirm his 85th world ranking as he was clearly not in the class of more than half of those who competed here. He was slow to kick off from the starting gate and trailed even plummeting down the eight-meter ramp. At every turn, Caluag seemed tentative and in the dash to the finish line, appeared too heavy to jump the bumps with a distinct elevation. If Caluag hopes to contend at the next Olympics, he’s got a lot of work to do before measuring up to the standards of the world’s best.