Perth-bound Olympic BMX gold medallist Saya Sakakibara has seen what a life without elite sport looks like. Now, she wants to compete forever.
Fresh off a gold medal in Paris, the 25-year-old has one eye on Los Angeles in 2028 and the other on a home Olympics in Brisbane four years later.
Sakakibara witnessed what it meant to her partner, French BMX racer Romain Mahieu, who picked up a bronze medal in a 3, 2, 1, podium sweep for his country in the men’s final.
“That’s the plan. To get to Brisbane,” she told The West Australian.
“My partner is French and watching him experience a home Olympics and watching him have so much success in his home country it really inspired me that I can’t not at least try and go on to Brisbane.”
Sakakibara is in Perth for the BMX Racing National Championships at Westside BMX Club in Balcatta from next Monday to the following Sunday.
She hasn’t been back on a bike since the final in Paris on August 2 so won’t be competing, but is in Perth for two weeks to run coaching clinics, sign autographs and cast her eye over future rivals.
“I haven’t touched my bike since the Games. I was originally wanting to race but plans changed and I ended up not being able to train,” she said.
“But I will be heading over and I do like to show my face or at least race the nationals.
“Growing up I knew how much it meant to me when the pros came and raced or event came to watch and sign signatures.
“For me, I always wanted to return the favour and say thank you to all the kids for cheering me on, sign some signatures, make the kids happy, which makes my day.”
Sakakibara has raced in Perth before.
“We used to have State team trips over to Perth and Westside was one of the common stops for the series, but I’ve never really experienced Perth as a city, so it will be good to do that,” she said.
The national titles hold a place close to her heart, her victory – the second of three – in 2022 in Launceston marked a major comeback after she suffered major head trauma in a crash at the Tokyo Olympics that ended her first Games campaign.
That followed an accident in a World Cup race in early 2020 that left her brother and Olympic gold medal hopeful Kai Sakakibara in a medically induced coma for two months.
It ended his BMX career, but he was trackside in Paris to watch Saya, wearing his old No. 77, take the gold medal.
“It has been a big few years, starting with 2020 when Kai crashed and then the Games and then the year after that I really felt lost in the sport and didn’t really have purpose, really wasn’t enjoying it,” she said.
“Coming back to the nationals at the end of that year was like the first step into building myself up again confidence-wise.”
Paris is still a blur.
“I probably still haven’t had the time to fully decompress just yet,” she said.
“But it has been an amazing couple of months. It is still so foreign that I have won this medal and for people to recognise me, even flight attendants on planes. It is really quite surreal.
“Already there has been a huge increase in awareness around the country for BMX.
“People come up to me and say ‘congratulations’. And I will ask them ‘Have you seen BMX before? And they will say ‘Absolutely not’. So it has been just so cool to spread the word on the sport that I love around to more people.”
More than 1000 racers will compete in the nationals, ranging from ages two to 76.
“That is what is so cool about BMX is it is such a big family sport. The whole family can do it. You just meet so many types of people. It is a big, lovely community,” she said.
The contenders in the men’s elite division are expected to feature this year’s junior world champion Josh Jolly and winner of the past two titles and Rio 2016 Olympian Bodi Turner.
The elite women will include this year’s junior world champion, Teya Rufus, under-23 World Cup runner-up Bella May and junior elite national titleholder Sienna Pal.
Sakikabara says she looks forward to competing against Rufus, May and Pal on the elite women’s international circuit next year as they begin the long build-up to LA.
WA has previously hosted the national championships in 2018 (Bunbury), 2009 and 1999 (Perth), 1991 (Fremantle) and 1984 (Byford).
Entry is free for spectators on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
WA will next year host the Australian Road Cycling National Championships, while next month Collie stages the AusCycling Mountain Bike Enduro National and Oceania Championships, and in 2026 Nannup will be the home of the UCI Gravel World Championships.
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