The BMX star insists younger athletes need more help after emulating Sky Brown and Emma Raducanu

Olympic and BMX World Champion Bethany Shriever has called on national federations to help build a better “foundation” for young aspiring athletes hoping to reach the “elite level”.

Shriever won gold in BMX cycling at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, but faced many obstacles to achieve her dream.

In 2017, when no British rider had yet won an Olympic BMX medal, UK Sport announced they would only fund the men’s program for the next summer games, despite Shriever being the junior world champion.

Shriever was forced to become a part-time athlete while working as a teaching assistant. She also set up a crowdfunding page aiming to raise £50,000 for coaching and traveling abroad to compete.

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“National federations need to recognize the potential in younger athletes and do more to help build a foundation for them,” Shriever said I.

“In sports it’s such a long road and such a big journey and to get to a top level you have to make a commitment and that means giving up things at school or other jobs.

“People need to recognize that and offer more help to athletes if they want to do well.”

“If you work alongside the sport, you’ll train tired,” added the BMX rider. “You’re not fully into it. Their motivation can be so low.”

Balancing her time between work and training for elite events against full-time athletes was a challenge.

“Can I drive the route because it’s getting dark?” she would ask herself most winter nights.

But those challenges gave her the resistance she needed to win all of her semifinal heats and defeat two-time Colombian Olympic gold medalist Mariana Pajon to climb to the top of the podium in Tokyo.

Her success alongside fellow Team GB rider Charlotte Worthington put BMX riding on the map for British women.

“I proved that if you hold on to what you love, you can achieve your goals,” Shriever said.

“I think now they realize you can do it. You can come to the games as a young BMX woman.”

With success comes pressure, especially as a female role model in the sport.

But Shriever is excited about everything that comes with the top spot and remains motivated thanks to her drive to win it all and holds on to her No. 1 spot as the World Cup in Glasgow draws near.

In April, she received the Laureus Action Sportsperson of the Year Award for her special achievements over the past year.

Shriever was honored with the Laureus Award in April (Picture: Getty)

She completed the British women’s hat-trick to win a Laureus Award alongside skateboarder Sky Brown and tennis star Emma Raducanu.

“It was a total shock … To be nominated is an honor for me, so to win it is really crazy,” Shiever said.

Another “great honor” was the renaming of the Cyclopark BMX track to “The Bethany Shriever BMX Track”.

“I never thought this would happen in a million years,” she said. “There were signs all over the route. It’s pretty special.”