A wheel legend

Among many of China's historic first golds in Paris, the one landed by teen cyclist Deng Yawen in women's BMX freestyle park has been hailed as a game-changer for the sport, with an Olympic title secured at the discipline's second Games surely to draw more support and attention in the "kingdom of bicycles".

Much of that success is owed to Venezuelan BMX legend Daniel Dhers, who has been coaching the Chinese national team for the past year.

Known as the "Godfather of BMX", Dhers, as an active athlete himself, has been riding together with his Chinese students and passing on his nearly two decades of experience in the sport to China's talented young riders.

With the national program mainly drafting hard-working athletes from other sports since its inception in 2018, Dhers said that he had a good start to his tenure after accepting the coaching role, adding that it didn't take long for his lessons on technique, trick selection and the sport's culture to trickle through.

"The team already had a lot of good stuff, they already had a good progression. The Chinese athletes' work ethic is second to none," said the 39-year-old Tokyo silver medalist and five-time X-Games champion.

"They just didn't have direction. There's a million tricks and different things, so, where do you focus your energy?"

Dhers conjured up the magic by riding with the Chinese girls, challenging them with new tricks, and learning from them as well.

"He really helped us avoid making a lot of mistakes in training.

"With his vast experience, he was instrumental in our technical breakthroughs," Deng said of Dhers' guidance.