‘No time for excuses’: Logan Martin ready to defend gold medal crown and puts van break-in behind him

Logan Martin, the poster boy of world BMX, says there’s no time for excuses as he prepares to defend his Olympic crown in Paris.

Logan Martin has dealt with his van being broken into in Belgium and qualifying for Paris by the skin of his teeth.

But the poster boy of world BMX says there’s no time for excuses as he prepares to defend his Olympic crown.

“Am I the hunted? That’s what comes with being an Olympic champion, right?,” Martin said.

“Everyone wants to be in that position that I’ve been in multiple times, number one on the podium, and that’s on me to keep stepping up.

“I’m very confident. I’m feeling healthy and feeling strong. I know I have the tricks and the ability to pull a high level run.”

The Tokyo gold medallist in BMX freestyle will hit the visually-spectacular La Concorde course in the BMX freestyle heats on Tuesday night (AEST).

From a field of 12, Martin must finish in the top-nine to qualify for the final.

After failing to advance to the final of last month’s Olympic qualifier in Belgium, the Queenslander was forced to rely on continental quota for Oceania to earn his ticket to Paris 2024.

“I didn’t want to do it that way so that I qualified. I wanted to be in that top six, but when it happened, I just moved forward,” Martin said.

“I don’t dwell on what could’ve been or what was.

“I woke-up the next day and said, let’s look forward to Paris now.

“You can’t control what happens in the past, but you can control everything moving forward.”

Unlike prior to Tokyo, when Martin replicated the half-pipe that sits in his backyard to the Olympic ramps, the 30-year-old was unable to repeat the crucial preparation for Paris due to organisers keeping the course secret until a month ago.

“We didn’t see the course until about four weeks before we left, so we couldn’t build a replica like we did in Tokyo,” Martin said.

“But we did shift a few things on our outdoor course to mimic it a little bit.

“It does look very fun. I’m very excited.

“I believe it makes me confident.”

Martin said he had extra motivation to achieve a dream of winning a gold medal in front of his son Noah and daughter Luna.

Luna and Noah are providing the extra motivation Logan Martin needs to defend his Olympic title. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

“It would be awesome to win that gold medal and have them there to enjoy the moment as well,” Martin said.

“That’s the goal. But my main focus is to go out there and put down my best run.‘’

Martin also spoke of an incident last week in Belgium, during a pre-Olympic training camp, the BMX team van was broken into.

“It was very unfortunate our van got broken into, but fortunate that only my wallet was taken and I was able to cancel my cards,” he said.

Martin isn’t the only Aussie going for gold in BMX freestyle.

Comeback queen Natalya Diehm, who has overcome five knee reconstructions, will compete in the women’s heats on Tuesday night.