Freestyle BMXer Gustavo de Oliveira, the 'Crazy Bullet', ready to fly
The young Brazilian, nicknamed 'Bala Loka' – 'Crazy Bullet' – has flown to the top of the BMX world in the last few months, and arrives at OQS Budapest with a strong chance at obtaining a Paris 2024 Olympic qualifying quota spot.
Cycling BMX Freestyle
With a nickname like 'Bala Loka' – the 'Crazy Bullet' – Gustavo Batista de Oliveira attracts attention pretty easily.
The 21-year-old has burst onto the top level of BMX freestyle cycling in the last year and a half, winning continental medals and placing in the top 10 at the World Championships.
And now he's ready to fly at the Olympic Qualifier Series Budapest 2024, the final hurdle on his journey to obtaining a coveted qualifying quota spot for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
It's been quite the journey for the Brazilian, who began riding BMX at seven on dirt tracks in Carapicuíba, near São Paulo, and only transitioned to riding freestyle park – his current event – around four years ago.
"I don't know who I really am without the bike," 'Bala Loka' recently told the Olympics.com Podcast in Portuguese. "My childhood was cycling.
"This connection I have with my bike is like a great love that I feel and I can't explain it. I just feel like when I pick it up, get on the bike and ride, it's me expressing myself and having fun," he said of his connection to the sport.
How 'Bala Loka' approaches BMX freestyle
When 'Bala Loka' finished third at the 2022 South American Games in Paraguay, it set off a chain of results that had de Oliveira dreaming big. A 10th-place finish at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow followed, then another podium spot at the Pan American Games in Chile.
"I was very surprised by last year," he said. "I decided 2023 was my year. Work hard, put 100 per cent into what I have to do every year – I have a decent future, no matter the cost or what I have to put in, I will get it.
"I already had a podium before 2023 and I saw that I had potential, I understood and I saw that [2023] would be mine – this year, I'm really going to be a 'Bala Loka', you know? I'll give everything to the sport. I will literally take off the ground."
And de Oliveira has good reason to believe. He has finished ahead of Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist Daniel Dhers at both the World Championships last year and also at the first stage of OQS, last month in Shanghai.
There, he finished eighth – the top six in a combined global ranking will obtain Paris 2024 quota spots after the stage in Budapest – and was the top-ranked Latin American rider, two places ahead of Dhers.
"It's a minute for you to do whatever you want out there," he said of his approach to competition. "It depends on your imagination. If you want to invent the world, you can invent it. You just have to think and focus."
Gustavo 'Bala Loka' de Oliveira: Overcoming the fear of falling and Paris dreams
Competing in a sport like BMX freestyle brings with it inherent risks. With riders doing big tricks in the air, the chances of something going wrong and a hard crash are always present.
It's something 'Bala Loka' said he uses to drive him on. "I treat fear as, if I'm scared it's because something better is waiting for me after I overcome the barrier," he expressed.
"I treat fear as a positive. If I'm learning a trick, the heights, and learning things, if I'm feeling afraid, it's because things are going to work out. That's how it's supposed to be. Overthinking it won't help."
While he now has top-of-the-line bikes, de Oliveira holds a special place in his heart for his first bicycle he had as a kid.
"It's still at my parent's house in the room," he recalled. "My father saw a frame that looked more or less like a BMX and he put it together, like a Frankenstein, taking BMX parts and normal bike parts.
"He got me riding it, crashing, it lasted about four, five years I think, riding that bike."
That bike set off a dream and a journey that could have its latest chapter written in Budapest this week if he obtains an Olympic quota.
"It would be another burst of emotion," de Oliveira responded when asked what making it to Paris would mean. "All the work, all the dedication, everything Brazilian BMX gave me in opportunities. If it weren't for the sport, BMX, I don't know who Gustavo would be.
"The 'Crazy Bullet' would never exist, right? I's going to be a mix of emotions. I really want to feel what it's like to be there, to be one of the first Brazilians to have this opportunity (in BMX freestyle) to compete in the Olympics. And for the people who are going to enter the sport because of this as well.
"If you have a dream, run after it and you'll achieve it."
*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at Paris 2024 depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation. Click here to view the qualification system for each sport.