She peddled like a woman possessed, lapping the track in 34.231 seconds. It was a near-perfect run for Sakakibara, who nailed every jump and pumped over every bump flawlessly.
“It’s so crazy,” said Sakakibara. “I wanted this, I’ve earned this. I envisioned me on the podium, I envisioned winning from lane one, I envisioned just committing 100 per cent and not leaving anything behind. I wanted to make myself proud and I just went for it.”
She had the crowd on their feet as she crossed the finish line, screaming with delight. She was met at the finish by her partner, Romain Mahieu, who won a bronze medal in the men’s race only minutes earlier.
“I didn’t even have time to realise what I did,” said Mahieu. “And she went and she won gold. I think I’m more proud of her than what I did. I don’t know why, but that’s what I feel now because she has been through a lot of crap. It has been hard for her - and it’s just everything that she deserves.”
Indeed, Sakakibara’s journey to winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 was not a glamorous one. She overcame brain injury, illness and a crash that nearly killed her brother to stand on the podium.
“I’m just grateful,” said Sakakibara. “Sport gives you so many experiences that make you grow so much because you go into events feeling hopeful and you don’t always get what you want, and those are the moments where you grow the most.”
She leaves Paris 2024 with a fitting reward for all her hardships, sacrifices and personal growth.
Saya Sakakibara of Team Australia competes during the women's final of BMX racing
It was also a productive evening for the Netherlands’ Manon Veenstra, who earned a silver medal for her efforts in the final. She battled Switzerland’s Zoe Claessens for much of the race, making a definitive move on the second turn.
“I’ve been struggling with my gates these last two days,” said Veenstra. “I’d worked so much on them and I felt so confident on them. I felt super calm but I think I wasn’t because I kept hitting it or being late, so I knew that I had to give everything to be sure that I was in the mix.”
Veenstra was seventh off the starting ramp. However, she made a brilliant move, cutting behind the field to give her a superior position heading into the first turn. She passed three riders on the turn, leaving her in second place heading on to the next straight.
“Then I knew that, because of the lines I could do on the second straight, if I was on the inside, I would have a good shot on doing a tight turn and see what happens. That’s exactly what happened, I tried to hang in there as much as I could until there was an opportunity, the gap opened and I just tried to not look back,” said Veenstra.
She crashed to the floor in disbelief after the race, crossing the finish in a time of 34.954 seconds. She sat still, stunned at the way she rode the final.
Claessens arrived at the finish line shortly after Veenstra and gave a quick nod of approval to her result. She also recovered from a poor start, using the outside rather than the inside to pass riders in front of her and move into a podium position.
“I didn’t really do great at the semi. I was just like, ‘I need to focus, go outside to focus’, then I turned very happy,” said Claessens.
She claimed the bronze medal with a time of 35.060 seconds. It was a phenomenal display of BMX racing that won the approval of the French crowd, as they roared in appreciation of all three medallists.
