Kirrawee High School’s Facebook page exploded on Saturday morning with messages of love, pride and support for former student Saya Sakakibara and her thrilling BMX racing gold-medal performance in Paris.

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” Saya’s PDHPE teacher Amy Anderson said.

Saya won Australia’s first-ever gold medal in BMX racing with a breathtaking performance over two days – winning all three heats in the quarter-finals, all three semi-finals and then the final today.

As she stood on the podium in Paris as Olympic champion, Saya, 24, looked for brother Kai, 27, with whom she has shared a remarkable bond ever since they started BMX racing more than 20 years ago.

“He said, ‘I’m proud of you’ and I saw him watching the podium and when the national anthem was playing I couldn’t stop the tears; we’ve gone through so much and it’s super special that he is here and my parents as well,” Saya said.

Kirrawee High’s teachers and school friends had watched both Saya and Kai – the 2014 school captain – overcome adversity and near-death experiences.

At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics Saya crashed out in the semi-finals, a year after Kai was forced from his Australian representative BMX career after a catastrophic racing accident.

Principal Christine Campbell said: “Saya has inspired our whole community today. We are immensely proud of her. Her amazing win demonstrates to all our students that hard work, commitment and a big dream really can lead to great things.”

"Our Kirrawee High community is overjoyed for Saya’s family,” Ms Anderson, Kirrawee High’s PDHPE head teacher, said.

“The setbacks and resilience they have demonstrated is exceptional. Our school Facebook page has been bombarded with beautiful messages of congratulations and support and there isn't a dry eye in the house.

“Saya thoroughly deserves the accolades that come with a gold medal. We as a community are just so proud."

Saya reflected in Paris on the tough times: “Honestly, I’m just so grateful for all the hard experiences that I had since Tokyo and Kai’s accident, because those are the moments that made me really dig deep and find myself with BMX again.

“I just wanted to leave here having enjoyed the experience and having put everything out there, and be able to look back on the videos of my performance and be like ‘yeah I’m proud of that’ and I definitely did.”

Ms Anderson said Saya was a high-achieving student at Kirrawee High from 2012 to 2017 who juggled her BMX racing career with her academic studies.

"As a school and community, we are immensely proud of Saya’s accomplishments. Her gold medal is not only a personal triumph but a source of inspiration for us all,” she said.

“Her journey highlights the incredible potential within our students and serves as a shining example of what can be achieved through hard work and dedication."

Saya’s selection in the BMX team and Matthew Byrnes in the men’s water polo team for Paris is the ninth consecutive Olympics since Barcelona in 1992 where former students of Kirrawee High School have won a place in the Australian Olympic team.