BMX champion Sam Willoughby has been inducted into the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame.
Key points:
- Sam Willoughby won Australia’s first Olympic medal in BMX racing
- He suffered a spinal injury during a training session in 2016
- He now coaches and remains passionate about the sport
From achieving world champion status, to overcoming adversity after a life-changing injury, the Olympic medallist has accomplished so much since his childhood days of racing around the Happy Valley BMX track, in Adelaide’s southern suburbs.
“Truly such a great honour to be recognised in my own state, which I still consider home and a place that I hold very dear to my heart,” Willoughby told ABC Radio Adelaide.
“I think for BMX to be recognised amongst some of the other great sports that Australia is involved in, and more importantly South Australians, is very special.”
The SA Sport Hall of Fame selection committee described Willoughby’s induction as “a fitting tribute to an athlete who achieved so much in his chosen sport and has inspired so many who have followed in his path”.
Growing up in Trott Park, Willoughby said BMX started out as just a form of transportation for him and his brother.
“We were pretty competitive kids, both of us, so naturally we were always racing each other on our bikes,” he said.
It was a note on a bulletin board at Hallett Cove South Primary School for a ‘come and try’ BMX racing session at the Happy Valley track that sparked a life-long passion.
“I think I was just more so drawn to the competitive side of the sport than necessarily the fact that it was BMX.
“Still to this day that is the part of it that I really love about it, the head-to-head competition, the thrill of working towards a goal that just has so many unknowns and so many variables is really exciting and appealing to me.”
As an eight-year-old, he dreamt of going to the United States and making a career out of BMX racing.
“At that time there was no option of Olympics in BMX racing so the pinnacle was really to get to America and try to make it a profession and win a world title,” Willoughby said.
“That was my dream from back then when I put electrical tape on an ice cream lid and put W1 on it and rode around the backyard telling mum and dad that I was going to go to America and make BMX my job.”
After winning the junior world championships in 2008, he packed his bags and headed to the US, initially planning to stay for three months.
“It was just my bike and a bag … basically sleeping on people’s couches and trying to make my way around and win the next race to get a look-in to get a contract to convince mum and dad that I needed to stay there,” Willoughby said.
“I got a contract pretty much straight away and never came home.”
Willoughby dominated the BMX scene and went on to make history at the 2012 London Olympics when he became Australia’s first Olympic BMX medallist.
Living a ‘better life’
In 2016, he suffered a major injury while training at the USA Olympic Training Centre in California, which left him paralysed.
Through hard work and determination, Willoughby said he now lives a fully independent life.
“It’s taken a lot of work obviously to get to that point. My injury was a life changing injury, I’m still restricted to a wheelchair.”
Six months after his injury, Willoughby turned his attention to coaching his wife, fellow BMX Olympic medallist Alise Post.
“My injury happened and Alise was really on the fence about continuing racing or not and I was hell-bent … I didn’t want her to stop racing because I wasn’t doing it anymore,” Willoughby said.
“I was looking for a competitive outlet outside of my therapy and we had the world championships coming up in America and she hadn’t won a world title yet.
“We just really dived in head first and went after it together — it was probably one of the best things we ever did and created a lot of great memories.”
Willoughby is the sixth inductee for 2021 alongside Hockeyroos defender Katie Allen, wheelchair basketball champion David Gould, sailing official David Tillett, diving trailblazer Valerie Beddoe and cricketer Jason Gillespie.
Willoughby, who lives in California, said he was hoping to get back to Adelaide for the SA Sport Hall of Fame event in April.
from WordPress https://ift.tt/svkVDyS
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment