Sam Willoughby (born 15 August 1991 in

Bedford Park, South Australia Bedford Park is a southern suburb of Adelaide in South Australia. The Hancock family established a homestead and farm at the foot of the Adelaide Hills in the mid 19th century. A family name from an earlier generation lent its name to the proper ...

) is an Australian former

BMX racing BMX racing is a type of off-road bicycle racing. The format of BMX was derived from motocross racing. BMX bicycle racing, races are sprint races on purpose-built off-road single-lap race tracks. The track usually consists of a starting gate for u ...

cyclist. He won an Olympic silver medal in 2012. He suffered a career-ending injury in 2016 and has since worked on his own rehabilitation, and as his wife's coach.

BMX career

Willoughby, also known as 'the BMX bandit', left his Adelaide home at age 16 with a backpack, a meagre bank account balance and his BMX bike for

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He stayed at the home of fellow cyclists until he earned enough money from racing to afford a room in a motel. He won the junior BMX title in 2008 and again in 2009. Willoughby advanced into the senior ranks within two years of his arrival. Willoughby supports educating children about bicycle education through the Happiness Cycle. He won his first senior BMX world championship in May 2012, which advanced his ranking to the number one spot in the world. He competed in the men's BMX at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, winning a silver medal. In 2012, he won the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

Junior Athlete of the Year Award. Willoughby became engaged to American BMX rider

Alise Post Alise Rose Willoughby''Moto Mag'' January/February 2004 Vol.3 No.1 pg.20 (née Post, born January 17, 1991) is an American professional "Current School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer who has been racing competitively since 2002. She uses the mo ...

in 2015. In the men's BMX at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, Willoughby won his semi-final, but finished sixth in the final.

Post injury

On 10 September 2016, Willoughby was declared a

tetraplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or ...

after a training run crash at Chula Vista BMX track. 29 March 2018 he rode his BMX bike first time after his crash, still unable to walk. In January 2019, Willoughby and Post married. Willoughby stood up on his own legs (with braces) to dance with his new wife. As of 2021, Sam and Alise Willoughby live in

Chula Vista, California Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh largest city in Southern California, the List of largest California cities by population, fifteenth largest city ...

; and Sam is his wife's coach.Olympian Sam Willoughby was paralyzed in BMX accident. Now he coaches his wife Alise's quest for gold.

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

, 14 February 2020

References

External links

* * * * * * 1991 births Living people BMX riders Australian male cyclists Olympic cyclists of Australia Olympic medalists in cycling Olympic silver medalists for Australia Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics UCI BMX World Champions (elite men) Australian Institute of Sport cyclists Flagstaff Hill Football Club players Cyclists from Adelaide {{Australia-cycling-bio-stub