Name: Hannah Roberts
Country: USA
Sport: BMX Freestyle
Previous Olympic experience: Tokyo 2021
Social Media: Instagram
Who is Hannah Roberts
Hannah Roberts won a Summer Olympics silver medal in Tokyo. Now the out LGBTQ BMX freestyle athlete for Team USA is looking for gold in Paris.
This weekend, Roberts punched her ticket to the Paris Summer Olympics by winning the women’s BMX Freestyle at the OQS Budapest, scoring 93.48 points.
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Roberts started riding BMX at age 9 and entered her first competition in 2012, according to Wikipedia.
Roberts has not been shy about being LGBTQ for many years.
“Pride means being proud of who you are,” Roberts recently said in honor of Pride Month.
She was once married but has since divorced.
Related
Out Olympian Hannah Roberts backflips her way to Olympics BMX Freestyle silver, Perris Benegas finishes fourth
Out Team USA athletes Hannah Roberts and Perris Benegas finished second and fourth respectively at Olympics debut of BMX Freestyle.
By Brian C. Bell | July 31, 2021
Hannah Roberts at the Paris Summer Olympics
Since Hannah Roberts won a silver medal at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, she has dominated women’s BMX freestyle. The American won gold medals at the 2022 and 2023 Urban World Championships.
Now headed into the Paris Olympics, Roberts is a heavy favorite to medal, if not earn gold.
She’ll be competing against a couple other out LGBTQ athletes in Paris.
Perris Benegas, Roberts’ USA teammate, will also again be competing for Olympic glory. Benegas was second after the seeding round in Tokyo, but she dropped to fourth and out of a medal in the final.
When Roberts guaranteed her spot in Paris, it was her teammate Benegas she celebrated with first.
“When the victory lap came round, I thought, ‘I don’t want this, I don’t want this to be all about me,'” Benegas said. “My teammate Perris this year, working through injuries, so much effort, I wanted her to feel that victory too, so I ran to her, dodged my coach, and gave her the biggest hug I could. She’s come such a long way, I want her to be proud of herself because I am.
“I guess it was a waiting game to see if I needed another run or not, and when push came to shove, I didn’t. So I went over to her and swooped her off the ground and made sure we could celebrate together.”
Benegas teared up having earned her spot in Paris this weekend.
Competing against these two out LGBTQ athletes in BMX Freestyle in Paris will be Natalya Diehm of Australia, who will also be making a return trip to the Olympics.
Diehm was overwhelmed with emotion after her second Olympic qualification.
“I’m still having trouble trying to express my emotions on here for you so I’ll save it for another post,” Diehm wrote.
The Paris Summer Olympic Games kick off July 26. They will be aired on NBC.
