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BMX seems like a sport added to the Summer Games with American audiences and athletes in mind. Yet, no American has won gold in BMX Olympic cyclings short history.The United States was shut out entirely in 2012 after taking a silver and two bronze medals in BMXs debut in 2008.A strong, deep field of U.S. riders would like to make the jump at the Rio de Janiero Games.Its a U.S.-born sport. We should be doing (well) ... we need to bring home medals, said Corben Sharrah, who is headed to Rio after winning the U.S. Olympic trials. Understand the pressure, but dont let it get to you.As an athlete, do your own thing, have fun and ride the bike, he added.BMX, which stands for bicycle motocross, was born around the early 1970s in Southern California. In the Olympics, cyclists compete on a course of primarily finely-groomed dirt that winds down a roughly quarter-mile track, strewn with jumps and sharp turns. Eight riders gather at the starting gate set up at the top of a steep ramp.Olympian Alise Post, the top-ranked American in the womens world rankings, likened a BMX race to a cross between horse racing and a roller coaster ride . Its the kind of thrill-a-minute activity that should appeal to millennials.Everybody thats out there doing this has a very competitive, aggressive side, said the 25-year-old Post. Riding since she was 6, Post loves the adrenaline.Other riders in other countries started getting the rush too. Olympic organizers added BMX to the Beijing Games as a way to attract younger viewers and participants.At the elite level, BMX is the most competitive its ever been, said 23-year-old Connor Fields. BMX is so good, its insane.Fields, a strong medal contender, is going to his second Olympics after finishing seventh four years ago in London.Ever since it was announced it was put into the Olympics, the level of the sport has risen exponentially. All of a sudden, programs get created, money gets thrown at it, said Fields, referring to international growth.In the United States, cycling in general has not been a top funding priority, regardless of the discipline . Money distributed by the U.S. Olympic Committee typically goes to gymnastics, swimming, and track and field -- the sports that TV viewers typically watch in prime time.Getting shut out in London in 2012 didnt help the BMX program. Some crashes for U.S. riders led to bad luck, said USA Cycling president Derek Bouchard-Hall. Four years earlier, the United States took the bronze in the womens race, and the silver and bronze in the mens race after finishing within 1 second of gold-medal winner Maris Strombergs from Latvia.I dont think, with just two Olympics to go by, you can say this is a trend, said Bouchard-Hall when asked if the rest of the world had passed the United States in BMX.At the same time, many other countries are pouring resources into BMX because they view it as medal opportunities, Bouchard-Hall added.On the mens side, Strombergs is going for his third straight gold at Rio. Mariana Pajon, who won the womens gold in 2012, is such a star in her home country of Colombia that a track was named in her honor.And while the sport was invented by us and we were the best for a while, the competition has come up, Bouchard-Hall said. And its a sport where with a little tiny difference you go from first to fifth really quickly, and thats the game.So much can happen during a frantic race that nearly anyone who has qualified for one of the eight spots in a final has a chance to medal.Fields and Post might be favorites, but the three other BMX bikers on Team USA, including Sharrah, are contenders as well.Nic Long finished third at the world championships in May. On the womens side, Brooke Crain advanced to the finals in London, finishing eighth.Its the best possible team that the United States could field. All except Sharrah competed in London, where Sharrah was an alternate.We make do, work our butts off, said Jamie Staff, USA Cyclings BMX director, who is trying to cultivate a positive attitude.When Staff hears talk about the pressure on the United States to produce in BMX, he turns that into motivation.Some people look at it like that. I dont. I flip it over, Staff said. Compared to some nations, we are underfunded ... I see us as the underdogs, not the other teams.---AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta contributed to this story.---Online:AP Summer Games site: http://summergames.ap.org/ Shoes Ireland Free Shipping . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. Discount Shoes Ireland . Gather a group of friends, or find a league to join online, draft your team, set your lineup and compete in a number of different formats. https://www.shoesirelandsale.com/ ., for the next three years with the signings on Monday of Daryl Townsend and Michael Carter. Wholesale Shoes Ireland . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Buy Shoes Ireland . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. DAVIE, Fla. -- Kenny Stills actions Monday were the perfect microcosm of where the Miami Dolphins are right now.A day after he kneeled for the national anthem and later dropped a sure-fire touchdown pass in a 12-10 loss to Seattle, Stills stood in the locker room -- his hands cradling a football the entire time -- and spoke of a need for societal change. When done talking, he went out to the empty practice field and starting tossing that ball in the air to himself.His message on both fronts was simple: Things have to get better.Back home after an all-night flight from Seattle, the Dolphins started the process Monday of figuring out what needs to get better on the field to have a chance at New England this weekend. Theres also a process to decide what the Dolphins will do just before that game and if some players -- Stills included -- will again kneel during the playing of the national anthem.Its something that were going to continue to discuss, the guys that have made a statement, said Stills, adding that a league-wide group text-messaging session was held among players to gauge what could and should be done after San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick made headlines by sitting during the anthem during a preseason game. I guess well see next week.Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said he supported Stills, running back Arian Foster, outside linebacker Jelani Jenkins and free safety Michael Thomas deciding to kneel during the anthem on Sunday, one of many protests undertaken by pro athletes in recent weeks. The protests have not gone without controversy, with supermodel Kate Upton among those condemning the move by the Miami players. Upton lauded Seattles players for all linking arms during the anthem.Stills said some Dolphins spent a large part of the six-hour flight home taking part in what he described as a powerful conversation about what the protests mean. Some players would walk past and enter the conversation, some were sleeping and some were in it the whole time.ddddddddddddWe want people to understand where were coming from, we want to understand where other people are coming from, Stills said. Theres no disrespect, theres no hard feelings, theres no hatred, theres none of that. As adults, we should all be able to do that.Dolphins coach Adam Gase doesnt view it as a distraction.Everybody believes in different stuff, Gase said. But thats the great thing about this building. Once we do this, were after one thing: winning. All that other stuff goes away.The mistakes were many against the Seahawks.Stills dropped what would have been a 71-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Tannehill early in the second quarter on Sunday. The Dolphins had a chip-shot field goal blocked, let Tannehill get sacked five times, converted only three of 14 third-down chances and allowed a hobbled Russell Wilson engineer a 14-play, 75-yard drive in the final 4 minutes for the winning score.Week 2 isnt must-win time, but the Patriots are the only AFC East team that won their opener. Should Miami lose on Sunday, it would already be two games back of the Patriots -- who figure to only get better when they get suspended quarterback Tom Brady and injured tight end Rob Gronkowski, among others, back.I dont think this one will be hard to get up for, Gase said.Game notes RB Jay Ajayi, who was left home last weekend, was back in team meetings Monday. ... Gase isnt sure DE Mario Williams (concussion), C Mike Pouncey (hip) or DT Earl Mitchell (calf) will play Sunday. ... WR DeVante Parker, sporting a Louisville T-shirt -- his college team plays Florida State this weekend -- believes his hamstring is good enough to allow him to play Sunday.---Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '