Caroline Buchanan

“Any race I go into, I've always got the attitude of throwing myself into and wanting nothing but No. 1.”

“BMX is never over until the finish line, and I am always trying to challenge myself for that world stage.”

“I am just this small-town Canberra girl that's taken riding a little kid's bike on dirt tracks to the highest level.”

“Mum and dad would drive me to the ACT Academy of Sport gym at 5 A.M., sit in the car and read a book, and then drive me to school. I appreciated it when I was younger, but I didn't really understand how much they were putting into it. Now I look at budgets of $70,000 to compete, and I think, 'Wow, they've put so much into this.'”

“You never hold back. If I turn up to the track and feel cautious or not committed, I turn around and go home. If you don't have that full commitment when you're pedaling into a 40-foot jump, there's not much room for error, and you'll come off worse.”

“In BMX, you need an inner mongrel, something that's a point of difference in the female category.”

“There's so many levels. You can rise on the day to win a national event or a world title but the level you need to rise to win an Olympics Games is another one altogether.”

“I quickly realised that there is no 'I' in team. So I am so fortunate to have a supportive family that has been there for me since day one.”

“I really want to win a medal and would want to win gold. It's my fire and fuel, life and dream, everything.”

“I'm made to ride a bike, not do washing.”

“BMX is still a young sport in Olympic terms. So the sport science behind it is also relatively new. As a program, it's only going to get better as the sport gets bigger and more extreme.”

“You learn a lot from your first Olympic Games experience. Everyone thinks they're prepared, but you never are.”

“It's an honour to be a world champion, and it can never be taken away from you.”

“I've always been very competitive - that runs in our family. I'd always try to beat my brother. I'd race the boys and wanted to beat them. They toughened me up. They didn't treat me like a girl.”

“It would be simpler going to an Olympic Games knowing you had to nail one trick that you've done a hundred times, and if you do it, you'll win. Or if you're a swimmer, if you swim a certain time, you will win. In BMX, there are no guarantees.”

“A female professional athlete has to have the whole package, as opposed to a guy who can just be good at sport. You have to have a job or go to uni or do three sports instead of one, you have to be a standout.”

“When I compete, I love a huge crowd, expectation, pressure, and I like to have nerves: the butterflies flying and my hands shaking. This way, I am completely amped, focused, and ready; otherwise, I tend to be to relaxed, content, and don't perform at my maximal potential.”

“I definitely thrive off adversity. I know it's always up from there.”

“At the end of the day, I'm riding a little kid's bike around a track; that's what I've done for as long as I can remember. Now it's just on a bigger stage at the Olympics.”

“I started racing BMX when I was five years old. I followed in my brother's footsteps, and I was a little tomboy. When I came into the sport, there wasn't many women. I raced with the boys; I looked up to the boys, and all my mentors were boys.”