The X Games are already 22 years old, so BMX—a contest where riders routinely crash into each other and still crawl past the finish line—already has a notable Olympic history. 23-year-old Connor Fields had even learned a painful lesson from London 2012, about winning the heats but losing the finals, when he came into Rio 2016 looking for redemption. Still healing from a broken hand and facing a star-studded field of the best in BMX, including a two-time gold medalist, Fields would have to employ every bit of strategy and speed to earn the first American gold medal. The story of how he did it and the wild rides for every racer across the dozen preliminary contest is as extreme as it ought to be. Because this is BMX, and anything can happen. (6500 words)
