Top 25 Caroline Buchanan Quotes

I’ve got to know my strength and weaknesses and the same for my competitors.

The majority of the time, I’m just in my team training clothes or work-out gear, but whenever I’m killing time, I always like to watch ‘Project Runway’ or ‘America’s Next Top Model.’

I started racing BMX when I was five years old. I followed in my brother’s footsteps, and I was a little tomboy. When I came into the sport, there wasn’t many women. I raced with the boys; I looked up to the boys, and all my mentors were boys.

I quickly realised that there is no ‘I’ in team. So I am so fortunate to have a supportive family that has been there for me since day one.

There’s so many levels. You can rise on the day to win a national event or a world title but the level you need to rise to win an Olympics Games is another one altogether.

If I had to work a 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. job in the public service, I’d freak out.

A female professional athlete has to have the whole package, as opposed to a guy who can just be good at sport. You have to have a job or go to uni or do three sports instead of one, you have to be a standout.

BMX is still a young sport in Olympic terms. So the sport science behind it is also relatively new. As a program, it’s only going to get better as the sport gets bigger and more extreme.

You never hold back. If I turn up to the track and feel cautious or not committed, I turn around and go home. If you don’t have that full commitment when you’re pedaling into a 40-foot jump, there’s not much room for error, and you’ll come off worse.

I really want to win a medal and would want to win gold. It’s my fire and fuel, life and dream, everything.

Any race, I’m always going for the top step on the podium.

I’ve always been very competitive – that runs in our family. I’d always try to beat my brother. I’d race the boys and wanted to beat them. They toughened me up. They didn’t treat me like a girl.

When I compete, I love a huge crowd, expectation, pressure, and I like to have nerves: the butterflies flying and my hands shaking. This way, I am completely amped, focused, and ready; otherwise, I tend to be to relaxed, content, and don’t perform at my maximal potential.

It would be simpler going to an Olympic Games knowing you had to nail one trick that you’ve done a hundred times, and if you do it, you’ll win. Or if you’re a swimmer, if you swim a certain time, you will win. In BMX, there are no guarantees.

I think, in BMX, it’s a lot like horse racing. I wouldn’t really bet on it.

There were times when I was down and frustrated being in a male-dominated sport: you don’t get the support. It affected me. Layne Beachley helped me beat that. That was the difference for me and helped get me through.

I am just this small-town Canberra girl that’s taken riding a little kid’s bike on dirt tracks to the highest level.

I like pressure. Diamonds are made under pressure, and I definitely enjoy it.

You learn a lot from your first Olympic Games experience. Everyone thinks they’re prepared, but you never are.

I truly believe that it’s all of the hard times that make you step up to the next level, and that’s what makes you a champion.

You can’t take my batteries out; I’m always on the go.

I’ve always been a bit of a daredevil, even as a little girl with a pretty high pain tolerance and things like that.

I’m made to ride a bike, not do washing.

I’d love to be able to dominate cycling in general, not just one event.

I get called Pink quite a lot. The Pink of the Action Sport World. Or Queen of the Dirt – some call me that.