Caption, Olympic medalist Daniel Dhers (center) celebrates with the Chinese delegation after winning the gold medal in BMX Freestyle. Article information
- Author, Writing*
- Role, BBC News World
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5 hours
“BMX Freestyle is a lot about practice, but it also has a lot about emotion. It depends on the heart you put into it on the track.”
The Venezuelan Daniel Dhers This is how she responds to a question from Laura García, BBC Mundo’s special correspondent for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Dhers answers with moderation and a thread of happiness in the middle of the Place Concorde in Paris due to the wisdom of 20 years as a BMX Freestyle professional.
His joy is not because he has won an Olympic medal (he already won a silver in Tokyo 2020) but because One of her pupils won the gold medal on Wednesday in the women’s BMX freestyle event in Paris.
And that pupil is Yawen Dengfrom the Chinese team.
But how did a Venezuelan end up being key in China’s medal win?
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years and you meet different coaches and participants who see how you work,” Dhers told BBC Mundo.
The truth is that a couple of years ago, according to his story, in one of the international competitions the Chinese team approached him with a proposal: to become part of the technical team.
Caption, BBC Mundo spoke to Dhers in Paris after China’s achievement in the women’s BMX Freestyle.
They knew that Dhers had lived in Hong Kong for some years and could help with the Olympic process.
“I told them no, that I was still competing,” he replies.
But the Chinese They did not stop insistingAnd a year ago Dhers reached an agreement with them: if they let him continue competing, he could help in the improvement process of the Chinese BMX stars.
“I’ve been with them for a year, travelling here and there. I don’t even know where I live anymore.”
Ride every day
Dhers was born in Caracas, Venezuela, 39 years ago. Since he was a teenager he started practicing BMX Freestyle in different parks in Caracas and Buenos Aires, where he moved.
However, at the age of 18 he moved to the US where he began competing more professionally.
“When I moved to the US, that’s when I started to improve my level because it’s the mecca of this sport,” he says.
But not only did he start competing, he started winning.
Caption, Dhers won the silver medal at Tokyo 2020.
Dhers knew she could win a medal. The first step was to win the gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima.
And in Tokyo, with a superb second start (in BMX freestyle two starts are scored, but only the one with the highest score counts), he won silver for Venezuela.
However, he failed to qualify for Paris 2024. So he threw himself into his role as coach.
“Both Sun (the other Chinese woman competing in the final) and Deng had the same abilities. What I did as a coach was what I did as a competitor: ride every day. Some days with more volume, others with less, but always ride,” said Dhers.
The truth is that China went from not having a single representative in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic final, to not only having two athletes in the final, but also winning the gold medal in Paris 2024.
“That’s what I’m telling you: BMX Freestyle is a lot about practice and work, but it also has a lot about emotion. It’s about the heart you put into the track. And that’s what these two excellent athletes did,” he concluded.
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