BMX - Olympic pursuit

The pressure is on Tauranga BMX star Kurt Pickard this week, as he chases a spot in next year's London Olympics.
The 20-year-old will compete at the South African leg of the UCI Supercross World Cup series beginning on Friday, needing a semifinal spot to pave an easier path to his Olympic dream.
Oceania champions Sarah Walker and Marc Willers spearhead the eight-strong New Zealand team, but Pickard has decent form behind him, having pushed Willers hard for the Oceania title in Auckland last month.
"I have to make a semifinal within the next three World Cup races if I want a clear shot at the Olympics and it's going to be a huge ask, but the Oceania champs gave me a lot of confidence," Pickard said.
"Making a semifinal will qualify me for BikeNZ funding - after the world champs in Denmark, the team splits up, so I'm on my own to make it to the races after that.
"Depending on my results, they could all be paid for from now on if I do well."
Pickard is the reigning national champion, having beaten Willers last year, but 2010 turned into a steep learning curve for the young tyro. He was picked in the national high performance squad but was injured on his first trip to Europe, then dropped after the next trip.
BikeNZ BMX head coach Ken Cools said: "He didn't come to grips with what it takes to be part of a high performance environment when we gave him his chance in the lead-up to last year's world championships, but to Kurt's credit he has come back to the sport with a positive attitude, in great shape and fully committed.
"He needs to prove that in South Africa and if he can show what we all know he has on the track and display a maturity off the track, then he has a great future."
Pickard admitted he's turned his whole attitude around this year.
"Basically I took eight months off to work fulltime and clear my head and realise what I wanted. I needed that to give it a good go this year - I'd been riding a bike since I was 5 and haven't ever had a break from the sport, so it was what I needed."
He's been working for award-winning cycle education programme Kids Can Ride - headed by sporting identity Iris Thomas - and is also working towards a personal training qualification.
Ironically, arch-rival Willers holds the key to Pickard's Olympic hopes. The Cambridge-born star has been one of the form riders in the world this year, winning both the Oceania and North American contests and he leads the US ABA national series.
Willers has enough qualifying points to put New Zealand in the top-10 of the rankings, enough to qualify two male riders for Beijing - but he would need to maintain his form to ensure it.
This weekend's racing will be held in Pietermaritzburg. It is the first of five rounds that includes the test event at London ahead of next year's Olympics.
Bay of Plenty's Walker, the only female in the team, is looking to continue her strong 2010 form, which includes victory in the penultimate round of the Supercross last year in France.
NZ team:
Sarah Walker (Cambridge), Marc Willers (Cambridge), Kurt James (Cambridge), Kurt Pickard (Tauranga), Trent Woodcock (Pukekohe) Nick Fox (Gisborne), Daniel Franks (Christchurch), Trent Jones (Whangarei). Coach: Ken Cools. Asst coach/mechanic: Ryan Hollows.