Kai
Sakakibara

Kai Sakakibara’s whole life was BMX from the age of just 4 years old living on the Gold Coast Australia. When he graduated high school, he took the leap to pursue his dream of being a professional BMX racer and aim to go to the Olympics. But in 2020, a huge accident during racing changed his life forever. Kai’s acts of resilience and determination was the driver to get him back on his feet, found a new sport and inspiring others through motivational speaking. His story is truly incredible.

Kai became very well known on the international BMX circuit. He was winning races in countries all over the world and was ranked eighth in the global Elite male rider rankings. Kai was on the Australian hi-performance team, he was one of two riders who could be selected to ride for Australia at the Olympic games in Tokyo in 2020.

However, success is never guaranteed. Unfortunately, in February 2020 Kai had a serious accident in a BMX race where he nearly died. He was transferred to Canberra hospital where initially the neurosurgeons said they had no real confidence that he would survive. Six weeks later the view of the medical team changed - they believed that if he could ever learn to walk or talk again, that would be considered a success.

Kai was in intensive care for 2 months, after this he was moved to the brain injury unit at Liverpool hospital where he spent a further eight months. This was followed by another six months in a TLU (Transitional Living Unit) which is a place where people with brain injury are helped to relearn life skills. Finally moving to his parent’s house in June 2021, one year and four months after the accident.

Despite the challenges Kai maintained a positive outlook. He focussed his highly developed athletic mindset on rehabilitation, working step by step to make each day better than the last. Incredibly Kai learnt to walk and talk again but it did not stop there. He worked towards achieving ambitious goals including riding his BMX bike for a lap round a BMX track, modelling for a clothing company, acting in a promotion for maths in Schools. He spent some time riding a race bike around a velodrome track before finally settling on the sport. Kai has a long-term goal to participate in the 2028 Para-Olympics as a para-cyclist.

Remarkably, Kai has started public speaking, talking about his story as a hi-performance athlete before his accident and his recovery after. He talks about adversity, resilience, determination, goal setting, change and innovation. Kai brings a refreshing authenticity to these key values that underpin the corporate world and other elements of society.

He’s still recovering but at the same time he is learning new skills, building new dreams, setting new goals. His indomitable approach to life, his good humour, and his unwavering focus on being the best person he can possible be is inspiring. He is a leader and a true role model in very sense of the word.