Born on the Gold Coast in 1999, all Saya Sakakibara knew was a life with BMX. Racing around Japan, Australia and internationally with her older brother Kai. She followed in Kai’s footsteps and pursued a career in BMX racing. For multiple years, Kai and Saya made a dominate mark in the elite BMX circuit and were on track to go to the Olympic Games as brother and sister. 

A big accident in racing in early 2020 put Kai in a coma fighting for his life, leaving Saya to venture out on her own to make their joint dream a reality. After Tokyo, Saya faced more challenges from her own injuries, battling with fear, and thoughts of quitting the sport entirely. But it was the unwavering feeling of ‘unfinished business’ that ultimately lured her into reinventing herself and now winning at an elite level again.
Saya Sakakibara was born on the Gold Coast, Queensland in 1999 and moved to Tokyo Japan before the age of 3. Her earliest memories were starting school in Japan, and of course riding and racing BMX with her older brother Kai. Saya’s parents took her and Kai around Japan racing the Japanese National series. This is where Saya realised the thrill of BMX racing and the sweet taste of winning, is something she took interest in. But most of all, it was about looking up to her older brother and wanting to be just like him.

In 2006 at the age of seven, Saya competed in her first World Championships in Brazil and came 2nd in the 5-7 Girls category. 

When Saya was eight years old she moved with her family to Helensburgh which is a small town south of Sydney. She had to learn all about Australian culture and she also had to learn English. It was a big change in her life but it wasn’t hard to make new friends at school, join a local BMX club and continue life racing BMX bikes with Kai.  

In 2017 Saya graduated High School and went on to follow in Kai’s footsteps as a Professional BMX Athlete. Saya and Kai travelled the world together and quickly made a mark in the BMX International circuit as brother and sister. In 2018, at 19 years old, in her first year in the Elite category, Saya finished 6th at the World Championships, then won her first World Cup later in the year resulting in her finishing 2nd in the overall World Cup series. With Kai also doing well, they were on track to represent Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

However, it was in February 2020 this dream came crashing down. Kai had a serious accident in a BMX race where he obtained a Traumatic Brain Injury and left him in a coma for 6 weeks fighting for his life. This turned Saya’s world upside down. It was a harrowing year of watching her brother go through the depths of rehabilitation as well as trying to keep the dream alive to go to Tokyo to represent not only Australia but for Kai.

At the Tokyo Olympic Games  in August 2021, Saya was riding well however a crash in the last of the semi finals, while in qualifying position, put an abrupt end to her Olympic Dream. To make matters worse, she obtained a concussion that took her out of competition for 3 long months.

In the 2022 season, Saya was desperate to be back to racing at the top level again. But couldn’t shake the feeling of immense fear every time she raced and the joy of BMX she once had was gone. This resulted in another crash in June 2022, another concussion only 11 months after her last. 

Knowing her feelings about BMX racing at the time and her experience last time with concussion, it was then Saya made the decision to quit from BMX. It was not worth the risk.

It was a few months after the feeling of unfinished business boiled over, and forced Saya to rethink about her retirement. She wanted to give it one more year.

2023 saw a different Saya Sakakibara roll up to the first World Cup, exactly 12 months after her crash. She took an audit in her BMX life. From bike equipment to coaches, Saya took chances on her intuition and rebuilt her BMX life from ground zero. That year, she remarkably placed 4th at the World Championships, won 5 World Cups and took home the World Cup Overall Title. And better yet, she found her identity with BMX again.Saya is now the number 1 ranked in the World and on track to represent Australia at the Paris Olympic Games. She has an incredibly inspiring story of adversity, resilience and belief. But it is only just the beginning.