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At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Saya Sakakibara became the first Australian BMX racer to win Olympic Gold but it was quite the journey to get there.
In 2020, Saya’s brother Kai was heading towards the same goal before he had a traumatic crash at the World Cup race in Bathurst, which left him with life-changing brain injury.
Instead of training for the Olympics, Kai spent two months in a coma and more than a year recovering in hospital, where he had to relearn how to walk, eat and speak.
Saya, who was introduced to BMX by Kai, made it to the Tokyo Olympics but the challenges weren’t over for the family. While competing in Tokyo, Saya suffered a bad fall and was taken away on a stretcher. She battled concussion symptoms for nearly a year.
Despite these challenges, Saya didn’t back down, instead continuing to fight for her and her brother’s dream with Kai’s number 77 worn proudly on her back.
Saya finally achieved their dreams at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
After her race, Saya said that her gold was for both her and her Kai.
“I owe so much to him. I just wanted something that I could dedicate a win to, and this is definitely for the both of us 100 per cent,” Saya told Channel 9.
Kai, of course, couldn’t be prouder of his little sister, sharing a statement to Instagram that read “I knew she could do it. I always knew she could do it.”
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