How Saya Sakakibara Overcame A Crippling Fear Of Injury

from Head Game · host Nova Podcasts

Saya Sakakibara and her brother Kai grew up competing in BMX racing, starting when her family moved to Japan. When they relocated back to Sydney, the pair quickly rose through the ranks, winning a slew of state and national titles between them. No stranger to accidents while competing, Saya had suffered a number of concussions herself before Kai was involved in a serious accident in 2020. It left him with a life-changing traumatic brain injury, and Saya with a crippling fear of getting back on the bike. In this episode, Saya details the strong bond she and Kai formed through BMX, how her fear of competing grew over the years and how she found a renewed passion and purpose to return to competition, winning Gold at the Paris Olympic Games and becoming World Champion three years running. LINKS Saya's book 'Just Go' is available now Follow Saya on Instagram Follow Ant on Instagram, X, and Facebook Learn more about Ant on his website antmiddleton.com Follow Nova Podcasts on Instagram for videos from the podcast and behind the scenes content – @novapodcastsofficial. CREDITS Host: Ant MiddletonEditor: Adrian WaltonExecutive Producer: Damien Haffenden Managing Producer: Ricardo Bardon Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we recorded this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Dec 2, 2025

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How Saya Sakakibara Overcame A Crippling Fear Of Injury

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