Rain causes Olympic schedule changes

Heavy rains in Beijing have required the organisers to reschedule the remaining BMX events as well as the women's cross country mountain bike race. Both the BMX and the mountain bike parcours were too muddy for the events to be held in fair conditions.

The BMX semifinals and finals of both the men and women's events have been rescheduled to Friday. The women's cross country mountain bike race has been postponed to Saturday. The race will be started very early at 10am local time in Beijing. The race was previously scheduled for Friday, 15:00 local time. The men's race stays unchanged, Saturday at 15:00.

Ralf Schäuble, husband and coach of medal contender Sabine Spitz, was not happy about the move. "A postponement never happened before. Our planning was timed for Friday. If we had known we would have had to train much harder on Tuesday. But of course nothing has changed about Sabine's goal. She wants to win gold," Schäuble told dpa.

The weather is expected to warm up again for Saturday, which may be an advantage for Spitz. The German likes the warm temperatures.

Cyclingnews will cover the women's race live in its new slot on Saturday, 12:00 Australia (EST)/ 4:00 European time (CEST)/ 22:00 (USA East Coast). The men's race will be covered as scheduled on Saturday, 15:00 local Beijing time/ 17:00 Australia (EST)/ 9:00 European time (CEST)/ 3:00 (USA East)