Freestyle BMX made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 and is on the programme again for Paris 2024 but with a bigger line-up of athletes.

A total of six extra places have been awarded to the discipline, as it increases from 18 to 24, while road cycling has fallen by 17.

Although the decrease was done in the name of gender equality, De Jong admitted he would not be averse to seeing more places taken from road cycling and given to freestyle BMX.

"I care about BMX and we want to grow," the Dutchman, who has served in his role with the UCI for more than six years, told insidethegames at the International Extreme Sports Festival (FISE) in Montpellier.

"We want to grow BMX and if it's at the cost of other disciplines I would say, 'I don't care'.

"We want to be out there, we want to be seen, we want to develop the sport.

"If that means we have to take spots away from different disciplines, then so be it."

Freestyle BMX is featuring at FISE and as a UCI World Cup event it has attracted some of the biggest names in the sport, including Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Charlotte Worthington of Britain.

Since appearing in Japan last year, the potential for freestyle BMX's development has skyrocketed with FISE playing a central part to the early growth.

"Freestyle was always loose but now we have the structure as you cannot go to the Olympics with chaos," said De Jong.

"Now the structure is here, more and more people are involved, the Olympics have opened doors, there are more venues being built and there are more events on the calendar.

"People want to do this.

"Looking at the World Cup here with 110 riders, it shows that it is quite popular.

"How can we make it grow?

"By putting on more events, working with the National Federations, and keeping it in the Games too!"