Saya Sakakibara (born 23 August 1999) is an Australian cyclist competing in
BMX racing
BMX racing is a type of bicycle racing which features BMX riders sharing a short single-lap circuit or point-to-point course, with multiple banked corners, jumps and rollers. The format of BMX was derived from motocross racing, and sanctione ...
events.
Early life
Sakakibara was born on the
Gold Coast, Queensland
The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately south-southeast of the centre of the list of Australian capital cities, state capital, Brisbane. It is ...
, to a mother of Japanese heritage and a father of British citizenship. She started BMX racing at the age of four after watching her older brother
Kai competing. The family moved to Sydney in 2007 and Sakakibara joined the South Illawarra BMX Club where her brother Kai was a member. She then began competing on the junior circuits and quickly rose through the ranks winning state and national titles.
Personal life
As of 2019, Sakakibara is dating fellow BMX racer,
Romain Mahieu.
Career
Sakakibara has represented Australia at World Championship level. She won a silver medal in the Junior Elite BMX Supercross at the
2017 World Championships. She was awarded AusCycling's Female BMX Racing Rider of the Year in 2020. She was selected for the delayed
2020 Summer Olympics
The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...
as part of the Australian team. She crashed in the semi-finals of the Olympics and did not qualify for the final.
She won the
2023 UCI BMX Racing World Cup and retained her title in
Tulsa
Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...
in 2024.
She won gold at the
2024 Summer Olympics
The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...
in Paris.
Major results
;2016
: 1st Junior Elite BMX Supercross National Championships
: 1st Junior Elite BMX Supercross Oceania Championships
;2017
: 1st Junior Elite BMX Supercross National Championships
: 1st Junior Elite BMX Supercross Oceania Championships
: 2nd Junior Elite
BMX Supercross World Championships
;2018
: 6th Elite BMX Supercross World Championships
;2019
: 1st Elite BMX Supercross Oceania Championships
: 1st Elite Tokyo 2020 BMX Test Event
: 7th Elite
BMX Supercross World Championships
;2021
: 1st Superclass Women BMX National Championships
;2023
: 1st UCI BMX Racing World Cup
: 1st Oceania Championships
: 1st Elite BMX National Championships
;2024
: 1st UCI BMX Racing World Cup
: XXXIII Olympics (Paris 2024) Gold Medal Women's Cycling BMX Racing
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakakibara, Saya
1999 births
Living people
Australian BMX riders
Australian female cyclists
Olympic cyclists for Australia
Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Australian people of British descent
Australian people of Japanese descent
Sportspeople of Japanese descent
Cyclists from the Gold Coast, Queensland
Sportswomen from Queensland
Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Cyclists at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Australia
Olympic gold medalists in cycling
Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
21st-century Australian sportswomen