Tokyo Olympics: Our Olympian

Rebecca Petch in action during the BMX quarterfinals, riding closely behind America's Alice Willoughby. Photo / Alex Broadway/SWpix.com

Kiwi BMX rider and Te Awamutu local Rebecca Petch left it all out on the track in Tokyo for her Olympic debut.

It's been 20 years since Rebecca first hopped on a bike at the age of 3; when she was 10 she watched Sarah Walker in awe as she rode to a silver medal placing at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the following year, Rebecca finished second in the 11-years division of the World Championships.

And now she is an Olympian.

"I'm proud to officially call myself an Olympian and proud to be a New Zealander," wrote Rebecca to the 1604 followers of her BMX athlete page.

Te Awamutu was especially behind Petch. Photo / Caitlan Johnston.

Racing began with the quarterfinals last Thursday at Ariake Urban Sports Park and
Rebecca had a tough start.

Midway through her first race, Rebecca went flying over her handlebars and injured her shoulder when her front wheel locked.

The devastation was clear among a room filled with her family and friends at Fahrenheit Restaurant in Te Awamutu who had gathered to watch her compete in her first Olympic Games.

She was coming third at the time of her crash and finished in fifth with a time of 2mins 01sec.

But she persevered and went on to finish third in her second race and second in her third race, finishing strong and qualifying for the semifinals.

Rebecca Petch's mother and father, Barry and Sonya Petch, celebrate her qualification to the semi-finals. Photo / Caitlan Johnston.

The top four from her race group in the semifinals would progress to the finals and until her final race, Rebecca was tied for fourth place on 10 points, with Canada's Drew Mechielson.

In her first semi-final race, Rebecca finished fourth and in her second race she finished in sixth place.

But in her final race, she got off to a bad start and was trailing.

After a crash involving Australia's Saya Sakakibara and America's Alice Willoughby, Rebecca moved up to sixth place and her family and friends waited in anticipation to find out if it was enough to progress to the finals.

Unfortunately, she fell short of two points and finished with a semifinal placing of sixth with 17 points.

Overall, she finished in 12th place but said she had learned a lot from her first experience at the Olympics and is already looking forward to Paris 2024.

"Although finishing 12th was not my ideal outcome, I'm incredibly proud that I was able to line up on the gate and leave everything out there after my crash and even with a damaged wing," she wrote.

Britain's Bethany Shriever went on to win the gold, Colombia's Mariana Pajon got the silver and Merel Smaulders from the Netherlands finished with the bronze.