Full day today, watched both BMX and Skate Vert, some Super Cross, and a bit of Freestyle FMX. In the end there was only one thing I was truly happy to watch and be part of. What was it? Slow down, let me tell you about it.

BMX Park had Gary Young qualified in the first place slot. We all hoped the nerves and even more important the busted wrist wouldn't hold Gary back from doing what he wanted in the finals. He was in the first heat dropping in first to the jam session starting the run with a 41 of 50. Not bad, a few runs and slip outs would keep the scores a bit lower than that through the round. When all was said and done after the semi-finals Gary sat in 3rd place, on the bubble. Diogo in first place.

We all crossed our fingers and hoped that everyone would fall and there would be no reason for Gary to not move on to the finals. Well in the 2nd heat, everyone was shredding. Damn. When that round was done Gary sat tied with Daniel Dehrs with a 123. After the judges looked at the individual scores GARY WAS IN THE FINALS! We were all ecstatic until...it happened. Some sort of miscue to the announcers had them shouting that Diogo had won the Gold. Huh, what, wtf!? Isn't there another round?

At first Diogo was like, no, there is no way, more and more people kept saying YES! and most of us were totally confused since we were stoked that Gary had a chance to make a comeback and medal. Diogo finally believes everyone and the excitement sets in. It was a truly touching moment with the excitement and joy that all great sports stories are written about. Diogo hoisted onto his brothers shoulders and the party had begun, water flying, Diogo getting soaked and....

The mistake sets in. Announcer says he made a mistake and Diogo's world was fucking rocked, crushed and destroyed. The biggest blunder and ha ha ha, just fucking kidding man had just happened to him. It was like he was given a joke scratch-it on Christmas morning, thought he won 30G's and when he turned the card over to see how to claim his prize there was just a huge middle finger on the back. What a harsh moment man and it was just one of a few blunders throughout the day.

I must say when we Gary fans figured out there would still be another round, we were stoked! One more chance for Gary to do his thing...and he did. When the dust settled Cranmer sat in 1st, Diogo 2nd and Gary had beat out Guetler for 3rd and the Bronze.

The photo above says it all. Gary worked hard for the last few weeks to get here, really, dude has been riding for almost a month just healing up from a double knee surgery. Congrats Gary, it has been a treat being part of your XGames weeks and I would do it all over and over again without hesitation.

bdubblevision was here.