Meet Hungary’s Zoltán Kempf - pro BMXer, YouTuber and TV competition star
One of just four Hungarians taking part at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest on home soil, Kempf has an interesting background, having competed on Hungarian television series in addition to his sporting career.
Cycling BMX Freestyle
The second stage of the Olympic Qualifier Series 2024 takes place in Budapest, Hungary, from 20-23 June, as athletes in four urban sports seek to obtain their Paris 2024 Olympic quota spots.
For the home fans in Hungary, getting the opportunity to see the world's best BMX freestyle cyclists, b-boys and b-girls, skateboarders and sport climbers also comes with the bonus of cheering on the four Hungarian athletes who will be in action at the Ludovika campus.
And while some of them are relatively lesser-known to the general fan, one man will not. That's because Zoltán Kempf, or "Zozo" as he's also known, is somewhat of a television star in Hungary, having taken part in various reality competition series in addition to being a BMX freestyle cyclist.
To top it off, Kempf also runs a popular YouTube channel, on which he vlogs and documents his BMX tricks. Find out more in Olympics.com's short profile on Hungary's sole freestyle BMXer competing in Budapest.
Zoltán Kempf the TV competitor
Kempf has made a name for himself in Hungary appearing on various TV reality and variety competition shows, such as singing competition "Nicsak, ki vagyok?"; Hungary's version of "Dancing with the Stars"; a travel competition; and "Exatlón", a parkour-based team show.
It all started in 2018 when Kempf appeared on the second season of "Ninja Warrior Hungary", the Hungarian version of the popular Japanese sports entertainment game show.
That year, Kempf made it through the first stage of his qualifier before failing at the fourth obstacle in the second stage.
But that was to be just his first taste of TV competition. "Nicsak, ki vagyok?" – a competition similar to, although not the same as, the "Masked Singer" – followed, with Kempf finishing fourth in the second season, barely missing out on the final.
He also appeared on two seasons of the extreme sports competition "Exatlon", finished eighth in "Dancing with the Stars", and finished third on the "Asia Express" travel competition show.
Zoltán Kempf: Famous YouTube content creator and pro BMXer
Away from television productions, Kempf spends his time creating content for YouTube, where he has 281,000 subscribers.
His videos range from tutorial "How to" videos featuring BMX tricks, to vlogs about his rides and indeed his participation in shows like "Exatlon".
But his "day job", if you will, is being a BMX freestyle rider. Kempf is ranked 39th in the world on the UCI BMX Freestyle Park men's elite rankings, the second Hungarian on the list.
Kempf's recent results include finishing 21st at the first stage of OQS in Shanghai last month, a second-place finish at a Class 1 event in Debrecen in April, and finishing 22nd in a World Cup stop in Enoshima, Japan, in February.
With his home fans – and not just those who are sports fans, but also those who have learned of him from TV – cheering him on at OQS Budapest, Kempf will attempt to climb the OQS global rankings and obtain a coveted Paris 2024 Olympic qualifying quota.