Cameron Gatt’s journey to the Union Cycliste Internationale’s BMX World Championships featured injury, blood noses, and sheer determination.
The 14-year-old from Truganina flew to Nantes, France in July, to compete in the qualifiers.
“We almost didn’t go because he had a training accident a week before,” Cameron’s mother Michelle said.
“He injured his hand quite badly and every time he tried to get on the bike it blew up like a balloon and so he had to cease training for a week before.
“So the poor thing was really in a bad way but he still went and he still pushed through it.”
Michelle said Cameron was “so nervous” and in “so much pain” from his injury, he was prescribed anti-inflammatories to help.
“He’s never had it before and it gave him a blood nose, so he was riding with a blood nose,” she said.
To make a difficult situation worse, Cameron crashed during the qualifiers and he was forced to continue with five spokes missing from his wheel.
“We were in the grandstand and it happened right in front of us and we were just screaming at him ‘get up’,” she said.
“He got back up [and] continued riding, overtook three other riders and qualified in the last place for finals.
“It turned out that a French kid’s shoe flung off [and] the velocity was so fast that it went through Cameron’s wheel.”
Michelle said she was “immensely” proud of her son, and had never seen anyone with the resolve Cameron possessed.
“Just the determination is incredible… he just knows what he wants,” she said.
“In the final he got pushed onto the grass, and when you’re on the grass, the velocity just goes to zero, most kids would just go ‘oh I’m last,’ but he got back on his bike and he just hammered it through.”
Cameron fought his way back up from last place, placing fifth in the world championships.
“I’m more proud of that than…If he’d just had a nice happy stretch and came first, I’m more happy with this, just because of how hard he worked,” Michelle said.
“He’s back to state championships which is in October, then you move on to nationals in November and worlds again next July [and] when you’re in the top eight at the World Championships, then you automatically qualify for the following year.”
