EXCLUSIVE: BMX Olympian Natalya Diehm's triumph over injury horrors, dark 'spiral'
PARIS: Dropping in on her BMX at the Paris Olympics was a thought Natalya Diehm could scarcely imagine three years ago.
Battling through the Tokyo Games freestyle competition with yet another busted knee, the Australian struggled to see herself ever riding again, let alone at the Olympics. And once the glow of the Games had worn away, she plunged into a deep depression.
But when the women's BMX freestyle tournament begins in the French capital on Tuesday night (AEST), Diehm will be there with her bike, pulling off tricks at the urban park set up temporarily at La Concorde.
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"It's definitely been hard over the past few years," the 26-year-old tells Wide World of Sports.
"At the Tokyo Games, in my mind I was thinking, 'This is my last ride'.
"I didn't think I'd be able to come back or even be considered as a national rider anymore because of my injury list and it happening again. So I was heartbroken.
"But I just came back and took it day by day and surgery by surgery and never lost sight of my dream of going to Paris."
Injured again and in a dark hole, riding in Paris was a thought Natalya Diehm could scarcely imagine after the Tokyo Games. She's about to do just that. Chris Hyde/Getty Images
Diehm has suffered a horrid injury toll since first jumping on a BMX at the age of eight, breaking wrists, elbows and ankles, dislocating shoulders and rupturing ACLs.
The Queenslander has ruptured her right ACL on five occasions. When the ligament last failed her, she was due to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in just two weeks' time. One doctor told her to not compete in Tokyo, but in Diehm's mind, there was no chance of that. She qualified for the final and finished fifth.
Two weeks in quarantine followed. Isolated, hobbled and awaiting more surgery as the magic of the Olympics dissipated, she slid further and further into a dark hole.
Her knee was in such an unhealthy state after the Tokyo Games that two surgeries were required: one to clean up the knee and another to reconnect the ligament.
She's also had two shoulder operations since the Tokyo Olympics.
Natalya Diehm suffered a fifth ACL rupture just two weeks out from the Tokyo Olympics, but competed with a busted knee and finished fifth. Berengui/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
"The knee injury before Tokyo definitely sent me into a spiral, almost to the point where I've tried to blank it out of my mind because I know it was such a terrible time," Diehm recalls.
"I was trying to keep it to myself to not kill the happiness of others being happy for me [about becoming an Olympian].
"I was finding it really hard to see the end of the tunnel, the light at the end of the tunnel. At that moment I thought, 'That's it, I'm done, there's no coming back, no sponsors are going to want me, I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep up with the progression of the sport with everyone progressing so fast'."
Diehm has suffered a horrid injury toll. Instagram
She secured her ticket to a second Olympic appearance in the first week of July, when the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) announced Diehm and Olympic gold medallist Logan Martin as BMX freestylers for the Paris Games.
"I just didn't lose the fire of wanting to ride and compete again, which is crazy because everyone I've spoken to has said they wouldn't try again," Diehm says.
"Especially with the knee injuries and people who know ACLs and have had that injury, they're like, 'What the hell? Why do you keep doing this?'.
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People are stunned at Diehm's perseverance. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
"But I just absolutely love this sport, and I love the community of it and the self-satisfaction and the goals you set for yourself, and when you achieve them it's unmatched ... I've been doing it since I was eight years old, so I don't know any different.
"It's hard to be proud during the hard times, but now that I'm past it I am so proud of myself.
"The goal was just to get to the [Paris] Olympics. Obviously you want to win, you want to get on the podium, 100 per cent. But my goal was to just get there because I didn't even think I'd be in the running for the Paris Games.
"So I'm definitely feeling that sense of pride and I'm so proud of myself."
