Maryborough rookie living her dream as she ramps up BMX career
Future Olympics BMX prospect Teya Rufus was born to ride. Revealed here is how it all started in country Queensland for this teenage ace who is just starting to blossom.
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Outstanding Queensland BMX prospect Teya Rufus has always been a natural on two wheels. She was born to ride.
She was aged just three years when he jumped on a bike for the first time - and took off.
Initially she would watch her brother, Cooper, and his mate, head off for a day out in Maryborough, the family’s home town.
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Then she observed another brother, Isaac, trying to ride a bike and she also wanted to ride.
“But mum would say no, that I was too young, but when she wasn’t looking I jumped on the bike and rode off, first try,’’ Rufus said.
“I always wanted to be like my brothers. He (Cooper) was going to the track and I wanted to go to the track.
“And it just started happening.
“Then I started to go to race meets and have fun, and it all just happened. I was just doing local races and started to go to state and national titles, and I always just wanted to win.’’
It took her until aged 15 before she actually won a major title, and that success inspired her to want more.
Earlier this year she won the gold medal at the BMX Racing World Cup in Tulsa, and then won the UCI BMX Junior Women’s Championships.
Rufus is one of many athletes who will benefit from the new AusCycling Action and Acceleration Centre of Excellence being based at the Sleeman Sports Complex.
The Centre of Excellence will be established in partnership with the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) as the state gears up to host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Previously track cycling had been based in Adelaide.
Rufus said training with the best in the country in Brisbane, the venue of the 2032 Games, would give her every chance of success.
First she would love to represent Australia at the LA Olympics, but then, of course Brisbane 2032 is on her radar.
“So this track is very special and to make a home Olympics would be insane,’’ Rufus said.
Rufus has also moved into an adjoining suburb, so the three hour car trips sitting alongside her father to train and compete in Brisbane were now a distant memory.
Rufus said the QAS had helped her development enormously, particularly the gym coaches and also the physiotherapy support.
She certainly is a young woman now living the dream.
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