Kai

ABOUT Kai

Kai Sakakibara’s whole life was BMX from the age of just 4 years old living on the Gold Coast Australia. When he graduated high school, he took the leap to pursue his dream of being a professional BMX racer and aim to go to the Olympics. But in 2020, a huge accident during racing changed his life forever. Kai’s acts of resilience and determination was the driver to get him back on his feet, found a new sport and inspiring others through motivational speaking. His story is truly incredible.
At the age of 9 Kai raced in the BMX World Championships in France and came sixth. For Kai this was a defining moment and from that moment on his life was consumed by BMX. All he wanted to do was win and he did everything in his power to make that a reality.
When Kai was ten years old he moved with his family to Helensburgh which is a small town south of Sydney. He had to learn all about Australian culture and he also had to learn English again. It was a big change in his life but he continued to do BMX racing which provided a strong link for him between the two countries.

He worked hard at school and eventually became the school captain of Kirrawee High, his exam results were excellent and he left school positioned very well for the next stage of this life. Putting university on hold Kai focussed on following his dream to become a professional athlete and race BMX in the Olympic games.

Kai became very well known on the international BMX circuit. He was winning races in countries all over the world and was ranked eighth in the global Elite male rider rankings. Kai was on the Australian hi-performance team, he was one of two riders who could be selected to ride for Australia at the Olympic games in Tokyo in 2020.

However, success is never guaranteed. Unfortunately, in February 2020 Kai had a serious accident in a BMX race where he nearly died. He was transferred to Canberra hospital where initially the neurosurgeons said they had no real confidence that he would survive. Six weeks later the view of the medical team changed - they believed that if he could ever learn to walk or talk again, that would be considered a success.

Kai was in intensive care for 2 months, after this he was moved to the brain injury unit at Liverpool hospital where he spent a further eight months. This was followed by another six months in a TLU (Transitional Living Unit) which is a place where people with brain injury are helped to relearn life skills. Finally moving to his parent’s house in June 2021, one year and four months after the accident.

Despite the challenges Kai maintained a positive outlook. He focussed his highly developed athletic mindset on rehabilitation, working step by step to make each day better than the last. Incredibly Kai learnt to walk and talk again but it did not stop there. He worked towards achieving ambitious goals including riding his BMX bike for a lap round a BMX track, modelling for a clothing company, acting in a promotion for maths in Schools. He spent some time riding a race bike around a velodrome track before finally settling on the sport of rowing. Kai has a long-term goal to participate in the 2028 Para-Olympics as a para-rower.

Remarkably, Kai has started public speaking, talking about his story as a hi-performance athlete before his accident and his recovery after. He talks about adversity, resilience, determination, goal setting, change and innovation. Kai brings a refreshing authenticity to these key values that underpin the corporate world and other elements of society.

It’s been 3 years and nine months since Kai’s accident. He’s still recovering but at the same time he is learning new skills, building new dreams, setting new goals. His indomitable approach to life, his good humour, and his unwavering focus on being the best person he can possible be is inspiring. He is a leader and a true role model in very sense of the word.

SPEAKING

When Kai crashed at a BMX World Cup race in February 2020 his whole life, as he knew it, changed forever. A traumatic brain injury, two-month coma and long rehabilitation have meant massive changes from both a professional and personal standpoint. However, Kai embraced this change and found a passion for motivation speaking to inspire others. Through storytelling he shares a powerful message of resilience, goal setting and embracing change. Kai’s presentations are a moving story about loss and overcoming incredible challenges, and are nothing short of remarkable.

ROWING

Three years after Kai’s life altering crash he was on the search for a new challenge. No half-measures, he wanted again to be performing at the highest level — to represent Australia at the Paralympic games. Kai tried his hand at a few sports like track cycling, badminton, table tennis and finally settled on rowing. A sport he had never tried or watched. A whole new challenge. Just under 2 years of rowing, Kai has made tremendous progress in a sport requiring complex skill, utter finesse and the ability to be part of a high-performing team. His ability to adapt to his new reality has amazed many people and he is now firmly on a new path to success.