The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved on June 30 that the men's and women's BMX cycling events be included in the programme for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

IOC President Jacques Rogge told reporters that the BMX, or bikemoto-cross, an event with high popularity among youth, will be added to the Beijing Games while the total number of athletes for cycling remains unchanged.

This requires that two other existing cycling events be dropped to make room for BMX. But Rogge said that the International Cycling Federation (UCI), which governs the discipline, had yet to decide which events should be dropped.

BMX is one of the fastest-growing events in international cycling. The UCI Supercross series includes events around the world every year.

Despite the change in the cycling sport, Rogge said that the total number of events for Beijing Games will remain as usual at 300.

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