How BMX champion Logan Martin is making his Olympic dream a reality

When champion BMX athlete Logan Martin had nowehere to train for the Olympics, he took matters into his own hands. What he did next proves just how determined he is.

Every teenage boy goes through a skate park phase.

Weekends are spent at the ramps with their mates, pulling tricks and scraping skin, daydreaming of getting paid to do it professionally.

Most outgrow it, sporting only a few faded battle scars in their adult years.

Maudsland man Logan Martin is one of the very few who is living the life of a pro.

The BMX athlete is one of the best in the world, sitting at the top of the Festival of Extreme Sports World Series and winning a double gold medal earlier this year at the X Games, the global extreme sporting community’s most well-known and prestigious competition.

But he has even bigger dreams — the 25-year-old from Coomera is looking towards the 2020 Japan Olympics.

“I have tried to figure that out why I am competitive, I really cant put it down to anything,” Logan says.

“I just really want to be the best, I guess. I want to be the best and keep pushing.

“When I found out in 2017 that Japan would have a BMX category, the new goal set was to get to the Olympics.”

While BMX riding started out as a hobby for Logan, his passion for the sport never faded as he aged — “he’ll outgrow it” was a phrase seldom uttered by his parents.

“They probably didn't think I would take it as far as I did. I didn’t even think that,” Logan says.

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Logan Martin is a champion BMX rider with dreams of competing in the Japan Olympics next year. Picture Glenn Hampson

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“I started out as a young kid, hanging out at the skatepark in Logan.

“For the first couple of years they probably thought ‘he’s just doing it as a hobby’, but they were still supportive of that. My dad and my mum would take me to the skate park, they’d take me to all the competitions.

“I’m pretty much the only athlete, my mum’s side of the family are tattooists. I’m the only sports person.”

It was at the skatepark in Logan where Logan made friends with Kyle Baldock, today another world champion BMX competitor. A couple of years older, Logan said Kyle was a mentor and helped him visualise a career in professional BMX.

Without realising it, the two prophesied competing in the Olympics long before BMX would be announced as a category.

“Me and one of my other mates, Kyle, we started riding together a lot at the GC Compound,” Logan said.

“We put out a video together called Training for The Olympics. Although at that time, BMX wasn’t a thing in the Olympics.

“We did double routines, that got a lot of views, and that’s when I started to get noticed from that video.”

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Logan built a $70,000 skate park of ramps in his backyard to help train for the olympics. Picture Glenn Hampson.

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The footage shows the duo pulling synchronised tricks in precise timing, regularly coming within centimetres of each other as they run through intricately co-ordinated spins, flips and tail whips. Despite a few stacks here and there, it’s artistic to watch. Uploaded in 2011, it’s still on Youtube with a tidy 600,000 views.

The GC Compound in Coomera was Logan’s training ground, a multimillion-dollar facility with the equipment to help him and his mates push themselves further. When it closed in 2016, Logan was left with nowhere to hone his skills. The next year he took matters into his own hands and built a $70,000 BMX park in his backyard.

“I knew if I wanted to keep competing at the level I was at, and get to the Olympics, I had to build a skatepark in my backyard,” Kyle says.

“The standard for the Olympics is a lot higher. I definitely needed to keep the progression high.”

The neighbours tried complaining (the sound of a bike rushing through the air deemed “noisy”). The council gave it the tick of approval. Logan was free to train for hours every day and maintain his progress, continuing to place and score points to qualify for the Olympics in global competitions.

With all professional sportspeople, success hasn’t come without pain. Logan has suffered plenty of broken bones and fractures, but considers himself lucky as far as injuries go. He says the worst part of recovery is what’s going on inside your head when you’re faced with a setback.

“In late October I was down in Melbourne getting ready to go to China for the world championships,” Logan says.

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“In 2017 I won it, so I was going back as a defending gold medallist. Two weeks before that I tore all the ligaments in my ankle. I missed those events. That was super hard.

“China was a really important competition for scoring points (for the Olympics). Because of my ankle injury, I missed out on quite a few points.

“It’s a mental battle when you can’t ride, you can’t compete. You can only listen to so much advice. You’ve got to go through it yourself.

“I’ve broken both collarbones, I’ve dislocated my shoulder six times, broken a bone in my hand. But I’m pretty lucky, considering. Some of the other (BMX athletes) at this level have a bigger list than that.”

When you’re faced with an obstacle, it never hurts to have a supportive partner. On New Year’s Day this year, Logan proposed to his girlfriend Kimberly Berroya. They welcomed a child, Noah, in May, and are looking forward to their wedding next month.

“We’ve been together for two and a half years. She’s a gymnastics coach,” Logan says.

“We met just through friends, it took off pretty quick. We weren’t together for too long after we moved in together.

“We went up north to Airlie Beach for new years, I proposed to her at sunrise at the first of this year.

“Noah, he happened super quick in our relationship as well. A year and a half after we were together we found out she was pregnant.

“We were trying, he came super quick but it’s really worked out. There’s nothing like holding your own baby, it’s absolutely amazing.

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Logan Martin at UCI Urban World Championships in Chengdu, China in 2017. Picture: Leo Zhukov

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“It’s still working out really well, I can still do what I need to do in my career, and everything’s going smoothly with me and Kim. He easily integrated in to our lives.”

But did becoming a dad change Logan’s attitude towards a jet set career, where serious injury, even death, are real possibilities?

“I actually had a mate say that to me — he stopped BMX after he had his kid. He started over-thinking the risk of it,” Logan says.

“He said it would change my mind, too.

“But I think it feels comfortable to be on my bike. I know I don’t push it past the limit I know I can’t achieve.

“Every month or so I’m overseas. That can make it more difficult, but it’s only a week or two at a time.

“I still have to do what I have to do. And they (Kimberly and Noah) came over to the X Games this year which made it super special.”

A photo on Logan’s Instagram captured just how special it was for the trio when he won the two gold medals. One photo of Logan sporting his medals, a beaming Kimberly by his side and an indifferent but adorable Noah amassed 20,000 likes from his 350,000-plus following.

“Tears of joy from Noah or upset because he’s in the spotlight — either way, made for a cute photo,” one of Logan’s X Games Instagram posts reads, snapped with a weepy baby in his arms.

It’s a few years away yet but Logan says he can’t wait to get Noah on a bike.

“We can’t wait until he starts crawling and walking, and it would be really cool to have him rolling around in the skatepark with me,” he says.

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Logan with his four-month-old son Noah Martin and fiancee Kimberly Berroya. Picture Glenn Hampson

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“Whether he gets into BMX or something else, I’ll support him with whatever route he wants to take. He’s going to be surrounded by it either way.

“It’s nice to see him grow up and see which avenue he takes, I’ll be supportive whatever way he goes.”

November is going to be huge for Logan: he’ll be going back to China to compete in the 2019 BMX Freestyle World Championships, an integral competition for qualifying for the Olympics; his wedding to Kimberly and then his 26th birthday.

You’d never guess the pressure he’s facing by speaking to him, though. He’s level-headed, cool, calm and collected.

“At the end of October I go to China for two weeks, I get back on the 12th, the 14th I get married, and then a week later is my birthday,” Logan says.

“It’s all pretty close together. It’d be great to celebrate but we don’t party. We’re just going to get the bridal party all together and hang out.”

Logan’s love for his family and his career is very clear. A young man with incredible ambition, he’s a proud father and proud rider, keeping it humble and dedicating his time to his fiance and son.