With divorce behind her, Hannah Roberts aims to go one better at Paris 2024
The American BMX Freestyle cyclist won silver at Tokyo 2020, but saw her form suffer through personal problems. Now, after a break with her past, the 22-year-old is competing at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai live on Olympics.com and aiming to qualify for Paris 2024, where she hopes to upgrade the colour of her medal from three years ago.
Cycling BMX Freestyle
"Every time that I could get on the bike, it was free space."
Hannah Roberts can recall a time when, despite being the first Olympic silver medallist in her event, things were not so rosy away from competition.
The BMX freestyle cyclist had finished second in the discipline's Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 in 2021. She returned home afterwards feeling disappointed at having missed out on gold.
"When you only focus on one thing, it takes priority over your entire life. Obviously I didn't win, I got silver, which is still an amazing accomplishment, but, I never truly enjoyed the silver in 2021," she remembers in a recent interview with Olympics.com. "I barely got my medal out, I just couldn't understand how I could focus so hard and not get gold."
But that disappointment was to be the least of her worries. Storm clouds were brewing, and in 2022, Roberts and her then-wife decided to split up.
That clouded her mind nearly every waking moment, with the American trying to find an escape in her sport.
"I was going through a divorce the end of 2022, and it led to a lot of 2023 just dividing certain things," she says. "We had dogs and stuff that we had to split, and that was hard. We had other financial things to figure out. And I was dealing with all of that almost every time that I was off the bike."
It resulted in a knock-on effect on her performances, not because she couldn't concentrate while riding, but simply because she had no time to ride.
"I've always been okay at being able to just clear my mind when I'm on my bike," she says. "But there was a lot less time spent on my bike because I was trying to get everything figured out. There were two contests, one in France and one in Belgium, and I only rode for four days in between those two events, and they were five weeks apart."
Overcoming personal troubles to win world title
With all the distractions off the bike, Roberts didn't think she was a favourite heading into the 2023 UCI World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, despite being the reigning world champion since 2019.
"It wasn't anybody's fault. It's just a very long, drawn out process," she says. "It was just trying to get things figured out so that we could completely go our separate ways and do things as amicably as possible. Marriage is great, divorce sucks, that's really what I've been going through the last two years."
Hardly unsurprising that Roberts was not feeling her very best in Glasgow. "I was doubting myself a lot when I was going to Worlds, just with everything off my bike going on," she confirms.
And yet, to her surprise, she took victory, claiming the world champion's rainbow jersey again two days before her 22nd birthday. "Taking that win in one of the worst mental times that I was going through, I think that was probably the best thing for me.
"It helped me get out of kind of a funk and really focus on riding and being able to (…) when I'm on my bike, let me let go of everything that wasn't relevant to my situation. So, that win was crazy."
Thankfully, Roberts had support in Glasgow from her nearest and dearest, including her new partner.
"My parents flew to Scotland," she recalls with a grin. "My parents were there and my girlfriend was there. All my team was there. It was an unreal feeling. That one was really cool."
How Hannah Roberts learned from Tokyo silver
Her divorce was finalised after the 2023 World Championships, which has allowed Roberts the space to fully focus on qualifying for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
She is competing at the Olympic Qualifier Series 2024 in Shanghai and Budapest, available to stream live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices.
If she obtains her Paris 2024 quota, she has her sights on improving on the silver she won three years ago.
"I think I was 15 and in high school, I was in a computer class when I found out that BMX was in the Olympics. I didn't necessarily think it was a possibility for me to even be an Olympian in the first place, but not only having Paris be my second Olympics, but (also) the possibility for gold, that's all I've wanted since I found out.
"I'm 22 now, so that's seven years, that's a lot of years to be dreaming about something and to be able to make it happen. And Paris would be amazing; I think my family's already planning on flying out."
What did she learn from taking silver in Tokyo, now that she has overcome the disappointment of not having stood on the top step of the podium in Japan?
"You know, I finally understood there was just much too much on me mentally and I was just carrying too much pressure (in Tokyo). Now I can finally look back and be like, oh, yeah, that's pretty cool: I'm the only person in the world that has an Olympic silver for women's BMX freestyle.
"I have every medal and every trophy on a big old wall. And I can see it right now, it's sitting on my mantel being displayed for everybody."
Which fellow Olympian does Hannah Roberts want to meet?
If Roberts does make it to her second Games in Paris, she hopes to meet a fellow Team USA athlete who she says she tried to catch in Tokyo, but was unable to.
"No hesitation. Simone Biles. She's like the GOAT. Like, you can't not say Simone Biles. She is so cool!
"I don't know, she just seems very sweet. I don't know if we'd have much in common, but I think that she'd be nice to talk to."
Put to her that they do indeed share something in common, as athletes in events which require tricks and routines, Roberts smiles.
"She's way better at spinning and flipping than I am. And just awesome."
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.