Australia

A five-year tale of trauma and hope for Australia’s BMX riders


BMX racing resonates deeply with people of a certain age who grew up in the Australian suburbs.

In the 1980s, when new housing estates still had quiet streets and the odd bush track, groups of hooting children on BMXs were the urban versions of brumby mobs.

The motocross bicycle boom, which originated in California a decade earlier, was helped along by several 80s movies: E.T. (1982), BMX Bandits (1983 – starring Nicole Kidman), and Rad (1986).

They don’t use our word “rad” anymore, but BMXers are still wild and free-spirited.

Movies in the 80s, like E.T., helped create a BMX culture in Australia.(

Supplied

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The world’s leading riders are also disciplined, intelligent, athletic, powerful, and courageous beyond reason.

Staged on a track of steep jumps, it’s arguably one of the two most hazardous sports in the Olympic Games: crashes are common and injuries can be severe.

Fear needs to be mastered before that chaotic first turn.

Most national teams carried scars into Tokyo. Australia brought with it a five-year tale of trauma and hope.

Drama at Rio de Janeiro

Anthony Dean leads his BMX quarter-final heat
Anthony Dean (in front) missed out on the podium in Rio.(

AP Photo: John Locher

)

The team misfired in Rio.

In her second Games, the famous Caroline Buchanan was a gold medal favourite but she crashed out in the semi-final. Another star, Lauren Reynolds, finished 11th.

The men’s two best medal chances, Sam Willoughby and Anthony Dean, both missed the podium.

Disappointment became despair weeks later when Willoughby was left paralysed after a training accident.

A year later, Buchanan almost died in an off-road vehicle rollover.

She suffered a broken sternum and collapsed lungs.

The world champion recovered but not in time to make the team for Tokyo 2020.

None of this deterred a bold new generation of racers.

New hopefuls

A teenaged girl and boy in BMX helmets and gear
Kai Sakakibara, right, was cheering for his sister Saya as she competed in Tokyo.(

ABC Central West: Melanie Pearce

)

Enter the Sakakibara siblings, older brother Kai and younger sister Saya.

They were born on the Gold Coast in the late 1990s: the family moved to Japan in 2000, returning to Australia seven years later, turning heads in both countries with their talent.

A dual Japanese-Australian champion, Kai was on target for Olympic selection when he tumbled last year at the BMX Super Cross World Cup in Bathurst.

He spent seven weeks in a coma and has since been recovering from a brain injury.

Like bronze medalist surfer Owen Wright did after his 2015 wipe-out, Kai Sakakibara is learning how to move again.

Saya Sakakibara sits on bike reading a magazine with two young kids next to her.
Saya Sakakibara made her Olympics debut in Tokyo.(

Supplied: Facebook

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Meanwhile, Saya, 21, not only made the Australian team but qualified for the semi-finals. (Kai has been watching his sister on a television at their grandmother’s house in Tokyo).

Lauren Reynolds, one of the Rio riders, also made the semis.

Reynolds was nine when she took up riding BMX in Bunbury. She loved the jumps – no fear.

Now 30, the West Australian came to Tokyo to set things right for her third Games: get into the semis, make the final, win a medal.

For the past three years she’s been coached by Sam Willoughby, who turned to mentoring after his awful accident.

Another of Willoughby’s athletes also came to Japan with the chance to win a medal – his wife, American Alise Willoughby (nee Post).

The tense and tricky semis

Seven women wearing bike helmets ride bikes on a road
Lauren Reynolds (in yellow) finished fifth in the final of the women’s BMX Racing.(

Getty Images: Francois Nel

)

The starting time for the semis was postponed due to rain, bringing tension and making conditions tricker than usual.

Riders were split into two groups of eight.

They had three races to prove their credentials for the finals, with qualification based on a points system.

The Olympic debutant Saya Sakakibara was in group 1, alongside Alise Willoughby and the clear favourite “Queen of BMX”, Mariana Paron of Colombia.

Kai Sakakibara was interviewed by Channel Seven from his grandmother’s house.

“I think she [Saya] can pull it off,” he said.

“It’s one race at a time and hopefully a gold medal at the end of it.”

Hoping not to get caught up in a “stack”, they did.

Luckily no-one was hurt and the Australian scrambled to finish fifth. Paron won.

Showing poise and strength beyond her years, Sakakibara led from start to finish, handing Paron her first loss at these Games.

In the third race, it was Sakakibara and Willoughby leading into the last corner.

One more successful hook turn, and both would make the finals.

Just stay upright … be careful.

Then the pair clipped wheels and fell off. On the replay, it seemed Willoughby had cut off Sakakibara.

Willoughby got up to ride her bike to the finish line. She had to be consoled.

A woman wearing yellow rides a bike in the air
Saya Sakakibara had a bad fall in the BMX Racing semi-finals.(

Getty Images: Ezra Shaw

)

Sakakibara was not able to make it to her feet. She’d been concussed.

Time stopped to allow spectators to worry about serious injury.

Eventually, seven people carried the Aussie away on a stretcher.

Later, she returned to the track to be interviewed. Thankfully, she seemed OK.

“Really sucks, for sure,” she said.

Saya’s brother was once again interviewed.

“I’m really proud of her and I can’t wait to watch the race again,” he said.

In group 2, the other Aussie, Lauren Reynolds, was impressively calm in her first two runs, making it through to the third race, needing one decent race result to make the final.

She finished third and went through to the gold medal race — one more chance.

Reynolds was slower than a handful of other riders into the first turn and could not make up ground.

She finished fifth, much better than Rio.

“I’m proud of my efforts,” she said.

“It’s a brutal sport.”

A rider on a BMX bike is high in the sky and on his side, with an apartment building in the background.
Logan Martin will represent Australia in the BMX Freestyle, which starts on Saturday.(

AP: Ben Curtis

)

By now, you might be wondering about the other arguably most hazardous sport at the Olympics.

It’s called BMX Freestyle, featuring tricks and kicks over some towering ramps. It’s up next on the schedule.

Check it out: it’s rad. Hopefully, no-one gets hurt.



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