Boxing and taekwondo are not the only sports where the country has the best chance of winning its first Olympic gold medal.

In 2012 London Games, one would not be surprised if the country’s representative in the BMX – bicycle motorcross – will win that elusive mint.

Monty Mendigoria, the country's representative in the Asian Extreme Sports Federation (AXF), swears that BMX has a great chance of winning the gold medal for the country.

In the SCOOP sports forum last week, Mendigoria said the sport may be lacking in popularity in the country but the Filipino athletes who are into the sport belong to the world’s creme de la creme.

BMX, a cycling sport in which the main goal is extreme racing on bicycles in motocross style on tracks with inline start and expressive obstacles, made its debut in the 2008 Beijing Olympics in replacement of a cycling event, and will also be played in the London Olympics in 2012.

“We may not know it, but Filipinos are among the best extreme sports athletes in the world. The sport has also big appeal to the youth, and this is the sport of the new generation,” said Mendigoria, adding that the two other sports under the “extreme sports” are skateboarding and aggressive in line skating events.

Extreme sports gained public awareness with the staging of X-Games run by TV sports channel ESPN.

Mendigoria said he was tasked by the AXF to form the national team that will see action in different events, including the Olympic qualifying tourney for the 2012 quadrennial meet.

He said he is eyeing to recruit Fil-American and US-based Sergie Ventura, a professional skate boarder, who holds the Guinness World Record for the "Highest air on a skateboard" in 1996 at 11.8 feet, to join the national team.

The formation of the RP squad starts with the first Philippine Regional Championships this March where close to 10,000 athletes are expected to see action in the BMX, skateboarding and aggressive in line skating events.

The regional contest will kick off with the Luzon Leg on March 13 at SM Baguio followed by the Visayas Leg on March 20 at SM Cebu and Mindanao Leg on March 27 at SM Cagayan.