Paris Olympics: BMX Racing comeback gold for Australia's Saya Sakakibara while Joris Daudet leads French medals sweep

Australia won another gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games when Saya Sakakibara claimed the women's BMX Racing event at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX Stadium outside of Paris, France, on Friday. Her victory comes after she forged on toward the Tokyo Olympics after her brother suffered a traumatic brain injury in a race accident only to then be left with concussion after crashing in the semifinals three years ago.

“It is crazy. I feel that it’s a dream. It is real, right?," Sakakibara said. “Every setback I had … I thought, 'I am going to give this another crack', I just had that in mind. I didn’t want to leave here without making myself proud, make these setbacks worthwhile.”

It was also a historic day for the French team, which swept the medals in the men's BMX Racing event. Joris Daudet, the three-time and reigning world champion, claimed the gold medal, his compatriots Sylvain Andre silver, and Romain Mahieu bronze.

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“It’s amazing, a dream that came true. We delivered when it counted, we’re the big favourites, and we were able to do that," Daudet said following the race.

BMX Racing events began on Thursday with the qualification rounds and resumed on Friday morning with the Semifinals.

Sakakibara won the Semifinals run 1, heat 1, ahead of Alise Willoughby (USA) and Manon Veenstra (Netherlands). During the Semifinals run 1, heat 2, Bethany Shriever (Great Britain) was first followed by Molly Simpson (Canada) and Lauren Reynolds (Australia).

Sakakibara was also the fastest in Semifinals run 2, heat 1, ahead of Veenstra and Zoe Claessens (Switzerland), while Shriever was the fastest in Semifinal run 2, heat 2, ahead of Laura Smulders (Netherlands) and Mariana Pajon (Colombia).

Shriever came back to win Semifinal run 3, heat 1, ahead of Willoughby and Claessens, while Sakakibara was fastest in Semifinal run 3, heat 2, ahead of Merel Smulders (Netherlands) and Laura Smulders (Netherlands).

Sakakibara, Shriever and Veenstra completed the Semifinals in the top three spots with the lowest points scored.

In the finals for the gold medal, Sakakibara crossed the line first in a time of 34.231, taking the victory ahead of Veenstra with a time of 34.954, which yielded the silver medal, and Claessens' taking bronze at 35.060.

"After Tokyo, I think that concussion was the start of that emotional rollercoaster that I had, and up until that point, I hadn't revisited or dealt with the emotions that I had after Kai's accident, and it all came crashing down," Sakakibara said of her brother, Kai, a promising BMX racer, who suffered a severe brain injury while racing in 2020. 

"Eleven months later, after that concussion, I had another concussion, and fearing the sport a lot. I was not enjoying it, and after the concussion, I thought it was the end for me and not worth the risk of having another concussion. Head injuries are so scary, and having gone through two back-to-back, I didn't think it was something that I could push through.

"Before Tokyo and that crash, I was doing pretty good, and there was that burning desire for what could have been. I knew that if I had given it all up, I would have been disappointed in myself that I didn't give it another crack.

"With those experiences, I went through drastic changes in my life, and needed to find that relationship with BMX. I was able to find myself as a racer because up until that point I was a racer with Kai, and I had to find myself as a racer without Kai by my side."

The rider who still races with the number 77, to represent her brother on the track, dedicated the gold medal to him.

In the men's Semifinals run 1, heat 1, Daudet was the fastest, ahead of his compatriot Andre. Mahieu won the Semifinal run 1 heat 2 ahead of Izaac Kennedy (Australia) and Cedric Butti (Switzerland).

Mahieu went on to win the Semifinal run 2, heat 1, ahead of Switzerland's Simon Marquart and Italy's Pietro Bertagnoli. Andre was fastest in Semifinal run 2, heat 2, ahead of Daudet and Mateo Carmona Garcia (Colombia).

Mahieu again won in Semifinal run 3, heat 1, this time beating Cameron Wood (USA) and Butti, while Daudet was fastest in Semifinal run 3, heat 2, beating compatriot Andre and Swiss rider Marquart.

The French team went into the final run for golds as the outright favourites, with Mahieu, Daudet, and Andre holding the top three spots and lowest points scored after the Semifinals.

Daudet took the gold medal with a time of 31.422 seconds in the final, crossing the line ahead of his teammates Andre at 31.706 and Mahieu third at 32.002.

“We trained for that," Daudet said. "We have worked really hard mentally and to be able to perform when it counts. I knew I was ready for that. Just a lot of hard work and putting it together when it counts.”

Silver medallist Andre said of his performance and the France team sweep, "The race itself is really about how you drop in. Each of us does it differently and I didn’t want to fall behind, I wanted to stay in front. Once the three of us were in front, we managed to control (the race). We knew that it was an Olympic medal at stake, and so I would never have attempted something risky." 

"To achieve first, second and third, we knew that it was possible, that there was a slim chance, and we all wanted to win the race," Andre said. "I’m glad that we did and not the others."

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