‘I didn’t want to be beaten by fear’: Natalya Diehm’s journey to Paris 

Natalya Diehm is a fighter.  

Two weeks before making her debut in BMX Freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics, Diehm ruptured her ACL for the fifth time.

Incredibly, she defied the odds to compete at those Games and went on to finish in fifth place. Despite her injured knee she was just 3.20 points off the podium. 

However, it’s not how the now 26-year-old wanted her Olympic journey to end, and she was determined to qualify for her second Games at Paris.  

“I didn’t want that (Tokyo) to be my ending. I consider myself to be a very strong person mentally and physically. That’s not the way I wanted to go out I didn’t want to be beaten by fear. So, I made it my mission to work as hard as I can and give myself the best opportunity to qualify (for Paris) whether I get it or not at least I went out fighting,” she said.  

It’s been a long and hard road mentally and physically for the Queenslander. 

In the three years since Tokyo, she has had two surgeries on her knee to repair her ACL and two on her left shoulder following serious injury.  

But months of rehab, training and mental preparation will pay off when Diehm lines up for her second Olympic Games in just days.  

“I’m probably the fittest and strongest that I’ve ever been even in comparison to Tokyo. I’m feeling really confident with how my body is and really trust in the hard work that I’ve done,” she said. 

“The right knee is never going to be the same as the left, there is always going to be some pain just because of the cartilage and the amount of surgeries I’ve had, but I’m feeling really strong, we’ve worked really hard to get it stable and to grow the muscles.” 

Diehm has continued to build form in recent World Cup and Olympic Qualifier Series events in Shanghai and Budapest.  

And she believes if she can execute her runs, she is in with a chance of winning a medal.  

“Obviously everyone wants to get gold, everyone wants to be on the podium but I’m just focusing on my best performance and hopefully the judges will see that and reward that. I’ve been working really hard and working on my tricks, and if everything goes to plan I think I could be stepping on that podium,” she said.  

“The stuff that I’ve been working on, when my competitors see it, they’ll be surprised because I haven’t posted it on socials and I haven’t done it at other events, but I’m expecting that everyone is going to have that as well, everyone has kept things hidden, and the layout of the course is going to bring out everyone’s best riding.” 

The women's BMX Freestyle qualification kicks off at 9:25pm AEST, Tuesday July 30, and finals will take place on Wednesday July 31 at 9:10pm AEST.