Paris 2024 bronze medallist Natalya Diehm is looking forward to sharing her success with young aspiring BMX riders following her return back home to Brisbane overnight.
Diehm arrived back home greeted by a group of proud family and friends after winning her bronze medal in BMX Freestyle.
She is the first Australian medallist to return home from Paris.
Stay up-to-date on the latest news with The National Briefing – keeping you in the loop with news as it hits:
Speaking on her arrival, Diehm said her achievement of becoming the first female Australiam medallist in the sport was a “dream come true” and she was excited to inspire the upcoming generation of riders.
“This is what I wanted, this is what I was manifesting for a very long time, not just for me but for Australia, for these girls, for the next generation,” she said.
“To be able to pave the way, I wanted to create history and to actually do that, it doesn’t feel real yet, which is insane.
“The one thing that I was looking forward to was going back to the training centre and sharing my success with these young kids that are here. I was really looking forward to that, to show them what could lie ahead in their future and it’s so important to a dream and encourage them to keep on dreaming and to keep believing in themselves.”
Of those waiting to greet Diehm were young athletes from Queensland Academy of Sports You For 2032 Daredevils program in which she coaches.
The 26-year-old was “overwhelmed” with the amount of people that were waiting for her to arrive back home.
“I didn’t think that I was going to get that emotional but then my legs began to shake as if I was going to fall, as if I’d just won bronze again,” she said.