Bicycle Motocross, or BMX as it's more commonly known, has been around for more than 30 years. The sport just became a lot more "legit" in the minds of many following its debut in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. American racers took home three medals -- Mike Day (silver), Donny Robinson (bronze) and Jill Kintner (bronze).

There are three American Bike Association-sanctioned BMX tracks in Northwest Indiana -- Hobart, Portage, and Lowell. The next Olympic BMX medal winner might be racing on one of them.

The goal of Teresa Nowdomski is to compete in the 2016 Olympics, especially if Chicago is the host city. Teresa will be 20 years old by then. The Hanover Central Junior High School seventh-grader has been competing in BMX since she was 4. Teresa won the Redline Cup in Ohio earlier this year and is ranked in the top 10 in the country in her age group.

"It's really fun," she said.

"Teresa was a quiet and shy girl, but BMX 'brought her out,' " said Teresa's mom, Mary Jane Nowdomski. "She also plays volleyball and soccer but will give up everything to race."

Nowdomski and her husband Ed operate one of the three tracks in the region, Freedom BMX, located at Freedom Park in Lowell. Racing has been "their life" for eight years, since Teresa started, but Freedom BMX began operations only a year ago.

"There was nothing for kids to do around here," Nowdomski said.

"No sidewalks for kids to ride. We wanted to open a track within a park, because it's a family-oriented sport."

Nowdomski and her husband have seven kids -- and they all race BMX. The Nowdomski's Thanksgiving is spent with their "BMX family" in Tulsa, Okla., during the Grand Nationals.

Nowdomski said the Olympics have definitely brought more attention to BMX

"People recognize BMX as a sport now," she said.

When Jackie Altizer went around the region and asked people if she could build a BMX track in their town, they looked at her and said, "you want to do what?"

That was in 1999.

"BMX was viable -- it was everywhere," Altizer said. "It had been around since the early '70s."

But everywhere she went they told her the same thing. They didn't want "those types of people in our town."

Eventually, Altizer said, she hooked up with then-Portage Parks Superintendent Carl Fisher, who was experienced in BMX because there was a track at his former job in Goshen. The Parks Department offered some land at a local park, and in the summer of 2000 Imagination Glen BMX was born.

By that October, Altizer was planning an indoor BMX track, because "kids need somewhere to race during winter."

Enter Steel Wheels Indoor BMX in Hobart.

Altizer first became aware of BMX when her 12-year-old son started riding his bike on trails in the region's woods.

"I would always go with him, because I didn't want him going himself," she said.

One day on the trails someone handed her a flyer promoting a BMX track in Elgin, Ill. From then on, every Saturday she would haul her son and his friends to the Elgin track.

"We loaded up the truck with bikes and coolers; it was like the Beverly Hillbillies," she said.

Eventually she got advice from the Elgin track owner and started her quest for something more local. By this time her son was hooked on racing -- and so was she. But it wasn't until 2007, when she turned 51, that Altizer seriously began competing.

"I finished last year in national age group (46-and-older) at Number 5," she said. "I'm hoping to finish Number 3 this year."

The reason BMX is popular with adults, Altizer said, is because the sport got big in the '80s -- a lot of those riders are parents today.

"I have what I call 'boomerangers,' " Altizer said. "They rode as a kid, and now they're back."

One BMX rider who's still a kid is 6-year-old Kenny Nork of Orland Park, Ill.

Kenny's already been to Nationals. He likes "jumping" and "racing people."

"I come all the way to Indiana to race," he said.