Quotes from Caroline Buchanan

I am just this small-town Canberra girl that's taken riding a little kid's bike on dirt tracks to the highest level.

The mistakes you make and lessons you learn at a young age are what gets you to an Olympic level.

I've always been very competitive - that runs in our family. I'd always try to beat my brother. I'd race the boys and wanted to beat them. They toughened me up. They didn't treat me like a girl.

I'd love to be able to dominate cycling in general, not just one event.

Mum and dad would drive me to the ACT Academy of Sport gym at 5 A.M., sit in the car and read a book, and then drive me to school. I appreciated it when I was younger, but I didn't really understand how much they were putting into it. Now I look at budgets of $70,000 to compete, and I think, 'Wow, they've put so much into this.'

It would be simpler going to an Olympic Games knowing you had to nail one trick that you've done a hundred times, and if you do it, you'll win. Or if you're a swimmer, if you swim a certain time, you will win. In BMX, there are no guarantees.

I truly believe that it's all of the hard times that make you step up to the next level, and that's what makes you a champion.

In BMX, you need an inner mongrel, something that's a point of difference in the female category.

I get called Pink quite a lot. The Pink of the Action Sport World. Or Queen of the Dirt - some call me that.

I just want kids to have a chance to go and try an Olympic sport. Every kid has a bike - that's how I started, and one kid coming along and giving it a go could make that journey to the Olympics.

A female professional athlete has to have the whole package, as opposed to a guy who can just be good at sport. You have to have a job or go to uni or do three sports instead of one, you have to be a standout.

BMX is never over until the finish line, and I am always trying to challenge myself for that world stage.

The biggest thing I've learnt is not to limit myself by the norm or what I should be doing.