The 2024 Paris Olympics was special in so many ways for Miyanda Maseti.
Not only was she the first Black female BMX rider to represent her country at the Games( let alone the first South African female), but the opening ceremony down the River Seine, fell right on her 19 th birthday.
Now midway through the current Olympic cycle, her fun in France has turned into a longing for Los Angeles, host of the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Looking back on Paris brings a broad grin to her face.
“ The experience was absolutely awesome, yet totally unexpected, and something of a bitter-sweet experience.
“ I really enjoyed being around all the people, and to be honest I was‘ fangirling’ so hard... seeing all the sportspeople I grew up watching on TV.
“ I got to meet [ athlete ] Akani Simbine and so many of the other SA Olympians and I also got to see [ US gymnast ] Simone Biles and some of the tennis players and I made friends with a whole heap of people there – just so much fun.”
That was the sweet part of her Olympics.
“ But on the other side I was so stressed the whole time because I didn’ t have a lot of time for training and had to really push myself that side – in terms of competition.
“ I know there was so much performance that I left on the table but besides that I was just very proud of qualifying for the Games in the first place.”
So what’ s happened post-Paris?
“ I actually haven’ t been doing too much in the last two years,” she says.
“ I did manage to get to Sweden for two months to train and had a really good time. It was one of my favourite tracks and people.
“ Everyone was absolutely awesome. I’ ve actually never had as much support as from there and I came back home to South Africa a much better rider and a whole lot more confident on the Supercross.”
Miyanda’ s mom, Milimo Mweemba, relocated to the United States when Miyanda was just 12 while her dad, Lonwabo, remains her rock at home in Johannesburg.
“ I was lucky enough to go to the US for about four months at the end of last year to visit Mom and while I was there, I rode the grands race there and did pretty well. I was proud of myself on that track but know I can do more.”
Under normal circumstances Maseti would have been wearing the green and gold and competing at the BMX World Championships in Brisbane, Australia at the end of July.
But like so many sporting codes in South Africa, BMX is predominantly self-funded, although Leatt has sponsored her race gear since day one.
Thankfully SASCOC has come on board again this year and it’ s that funding which will help with her trip to the Far East.
But Maseti has had to stretch every rand and cent and make some tricky choices.
“ We have really strict budget restrictions this year( last year was completely self-funded), so for me to go to World Championships wouldn’ t be too beneficial for my LA 2028 Olympic goal because it’ s only one meeting.
“ So we’ ve opted to rather go to China sometime in August. I’ ll do four World Cup races there which will give me a lot more experience on the 8m start-hill and I’ ll get lots of training in as well.
“ Going to Australia was going to be very expensive so we opted to rather maximise the budget so I can get the most out of the whole experience.”
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Still, there will be at least one world championships in 2026 that Maseti is looking forward to and those are the UCI Pump Track World Championships, also in China, in October. She’ s noticeably more upbeat when it comes to these championships.
“ I’ m really excited for them, simply because they’ re the most fun and exciting racing events – everyone is so much more relaxed and kind.
“ Everyone’ s there to have a great time. Sure, we’ re there to compete but the way the event is organised, riders can be relaxed at the same time.”
It boils down to the best of both worlds for Maseti.
“ They’ re normally the most fun events and the most enjoyable I’ ve had and I also get to push myself on a pump track and see how fast I can go and how smooth I can keep it and also battling fear … It just makes you feel good about yourself.”
When she speaks about fear she speaks from lived reality after what happened during the 2022 world pump track champs in Chile, where she severely fractured her jaw.
“ It was pure torture for me, I could barely walk, lost 20kg and came so close to quitting.”
The fact she’ s pumped for pump track worlds later this year shows she’ s no quitter and that also applies to life away from the track.
“ I’ m still studying and hopefully I’ ll finish my degree in computer science in January next year and hopefully pursue my master’ s and get even better qualifications.”
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