From an early age Kai Sakakibara has shown his desire to be a successful BMX rider. As a 3-year-old he started competing in his native Gold Coast, before his family moved to Japan in 2000. Kai learnt to read, write and speak Japanese, but one of his first challenges in Japan was finding a BMX track!
Luckily he did and continued with his passion of training and competing and to great result, becoming National Champion there in 2004, before going onto to win it again in 2005 and 2006.
Clearly a young man with immense talent and potential. Kai continued to race on the junior circuit, experiencing the high lows of competitive sport, and then in 2005 he competed in his first ever World Championships, where he finished in an impressive 6th place.
Kai moved back to Australia in 2007 and his remarkable achievements continued, picking up the National and NSW State Championships that year.
With his level of ability and dedication, Kai was able to transition from the junior circuit into the highest elite level of professional BMX racing and in 2017 he made the UCI World Cup, achieving a 5th place finish.
Kai continued to show an unquenchable commitment to improve, and this allowed him to continue his climb within the sport. In 2019 he was only one place away from making it through to the final of the UCI World Championships, a phenomenal effort.
In February 2020, Kai was competing in a World Cup round in Bathurst, NSW, and this is where Kai takes up the story
“I recall it being very windy before the race, but I was just focusing on the race as always. I remember moving into 2nd place and took the racing line going into the second corner, but then not too much more after that”.
Kai had come off his BMX and it soon became apparent that this was a serious accident. He was airlifted to Canberra ICU and spent the next 8 weeks in a coma.
Once Kai was stable, he was transferred to the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit at Liverpool Hospital to begin the next phase of his recovery. His rehabilitation there included relearning all the things that had come naturally just a short time ago. Kai had to learn how to write, speak and walk again and showed tremendous desire, dedication and commitment to his rehabilitation.
“At first I found it difficult, I wondered what I am doing this for, but I think my competitive nature and spirit helped me to see this as a goal to go after”.
When we asked Kai what his next goal was, he replied,
“Well my sister Saya is competing in BMX at the Tokyo Olympics, so I will be focusing on supporting her at the moment.”
We are privileged to have been able to provide Kai with a dynamic arm splint, which we are so glad has helped him on a day-to-day basis,
“Since I’ve had the arm splint, I have been able to work on my strengthening and it has even helped me at my golf, which I now do twice a week for about an hour.”
We are in awe of Kai’s achievements both on the track, but also in the face of adversity. He has shown time and again he can positively face any challenge and keep smiling. So, keep smashing those goals Kai, and we will continue to support your recovery in any way we can.
We would like to say a special thanks to Kai for taking the time out to share his story with us, we really do appreciate it and we would also like to wish Kai’s sister, Saya, all the best for the Tokyo Olympics, we will all be rooting for her, Let’s go Aussie!