Michiana native Hannah Roberts gearing up for the BMX competition in the Paris Olympics

 

BUCHANAN, Mich. -- After going home with silver in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Roberts has her eyes set on bringing home the gold.

Roberts has been competing in BMX since 12 years old. Since 2017, she's racked up five world championships, but nothing would compare to winning gold on the biggest stage in her career.

At the age of 22, Roberts can say she's headed to her second Olympics. This time, with a different mindset.

"I could tell you straight up until last year, I never really appreciated what I achieved," Roberts said.

At 18 years old, in the debut for BMX in the Olympic games, Roberts' wasn't satisfied with her silver medal.

"I could say it now like I'm an Olympic silver medalist I finally put it in my Instagram bio but yeah, no, I didn't really like at first. At first my medal was just in a kitchen drawer and just like I didn't want to I don't want to look at it," Roberts mentioned.

Now she's looking at her journey from a different perspective.

"It's all just one like I worked out for like, so many hours a week. And that's just kind of how I remember Tokyo, which sucks because you want to be able to look back and be like, Oh, this was really cool," Roberts said.

"I think I definitely learned a lot from you know, the last Olympics and definitely not taking anything for granted this time around," Roberts added.

Just like Tokyo and all of her other competitions, in 28 days when the world is watching Hannah Roberts compete in the 2024 Olympics for the women's BMX freestyle, you won't see or a hear of a special pre-game ritual from the Buchanan native.

"The mornings before I compete, I usually put my headphones in. And I just play like any kind of I listen to everything so I just play whatever music I'm feeling at that time. I don't really talk to anybody and I just text my mom Good morning and let her know that I'm awake and that I'm good. And that's that's probably how we're gonna handle Paris," Roberts said.

Regardless of the outcome, after competing in Paris, Roberts' plans to add more ink to her Olympic journey.

"I got the Olympic rings (tattooed) I put Tokyo in the first one (ring), Paris will go there, and then I'm hoping to do LA, Brisbane, and then wherever it is in 2036," Roberts added.