Caroline's Story
One of the nation’s most decorated BMX cyclists, Canberra’s Caroline Buchanan has lined up in the green and gold at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Having won the 2012 time trial World Championship she headed to her debut Games as one of the medal favourites. She posted the fastest time in the timed seeding run to cruise through the semi-finals and qualify for the final, She was unable to produce the same form in the ride off for gold, finishing fifth as Colombia’s Mariana Pajon took top spot on the podium.
After a strong 2015/16 World Cup season Buchanan returned to Olympic competition in Rio once again in the hunt for the medals. She was the second fastest in the seeding run and was ranked second after the first two of three semi-final runs. It was more heartbreak for Buchanan though as she crashed out at the first corner of the final run to finish eighth and miss the final on a countback. Pajon went on to defend her gold medal.
Outside of Olympic competition, Buchanan is a five-times Australian BMX cyclist of the year, dual BMX time trial World Champion, won the World Cup series twice while also claiming two BMX World Championship silver medals. She has also won multiple Mountain Bike World Championships in both downhill and four cross.
