By the time you read this, it might have sunk in for Donny Robinson.

Reached by the Register at about 11:40 p.m. local time on Thursday night, Robinson’s bronze-medal performance in the BMX race in Beijing was barely four hours old.

It had not hit him that he had won an Olympic medal.

“Of course not,” said Robinson, speaking at about 2:40 p.m. Friday in China.

“We just finished the race, then we had the medal ceremony, now we’re doing TV. It probably won’t set in until I lay my head to sleep.”

Robinson — who finished behind Latvia’s Maris Strombergs and teammate Mike Day of San Clemente — indicated that he felt fortunate to come away with a medal at all in BMX’s maiden Olympic voyage.

He crashed in a qualifying round two days earlier, waited out a rainout and then crashed again in Friday’s semifinals — one run before the medal race.

“It’s amazing when I think about what it took to get here. The last two days, I wasn’t riding well at all. It took a lot to come back, so I’m way psyched about that.”

Robinson deftly avoided another large pileup in the final, narrowly escaping unharmed and charging to the finish just behind Strombergs and Day.

“I had a good start,” Day said. “I was right there. Just couldn’t get in front of (Strombergs).”

After winning one medal in Seoul (1988), two in Atlanta (1992) and three in each of the last three Games in Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004), the medal count thus far for American cyclists in Beijing is the most since Team USA captured nine in Los Angeles and the second-most in history.

Robinson’s teammate, Jill Kintner of Seattle, Wash., won the bronze in the women’s race.

“First woman for America, in the first event ever, first medal, it’s such a piece of history,” said Kintner. “I’m so glad I can represent and be a part of it. Mikey and Donny and me, it’s huge for American BMX. This’ll bring a big boost to our program. It puts us on the map again.”

Overall, Robinson said the Olympic experience has been “crazy.”

“Stepping off the plane, the Chinese did such an outstanding job with everything, just on-point perfect. We got to see the 100-meter final, the gymnastics, and as for BMX we put on a great show. It’s an experience I’ll never forget.”

Though he won’t even depart for American soil until Aug. 25 — Robinson will stay in Beijing for Sunday’s closing ceremonies — the Napa superstar is already looking forward to the 2012 Games in London.

“Of course I want to go to London,” said Robinson. “That’s the next big race I’ll be training for.”

In four years, Robinson will be 29 years old — the same age as current teammate Kyle Bennett.

“He’s in the best shape of his life,” Robinson said of Bennett, “so it’s definitely possible to be competitive then.”

Bennett, of Conroe, Texas, was the United States’ fourth competitor to advance to the semifinals despite suffering a dislocated shoulder in a quarterfinal crash two days ago.

Although Bennett was in the mix for a spot in the finals, he fell just short, finishing sixth overall in his semifinal bracket.

After his interview, Robinson said he and his teammates were “pretty packed with stuff” for the next seven hours or so.

“I’m just on the bandwagon now,” he said. “We put on a great show, and kind of showed everyone that the sport is really awesome.”

Cycling events concluded today with both the men’s and women’s cross country mountain bike competitions.

Georgia Gould of Fort Collins, Colo., and Mary McConneloug of Chilmark, Mass. were scheduled to race in the women’s event, while Adam Craig of Bend, Ore., and Todd Wells of Durango, Colo., were slated to compete in the men’s race.