Red Deer's Molly Simpson has dreamt of representing her country at the Olympics since she was a little girl.
On Tuesday that dream became real when she was named to Cycling Canada's roster of 21 athletes set to compete for Team Canada at the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris.
The 21-year-old was the only athlete named to Team Canada to compete in BMX racing and is looking forward to the challenge.
"It's definitely a dream come true," she said. "I think now that it's written on paper and it's official, it's kind of like a breath of fresh air. It feels like I made it. It's a really good feeling and I'm grateful to have this opportunity."
Simpson was selected based on her performances at the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Cups and World Championships in 2023 and 2024.
She competed in all six World Cup events this season and with her recent performance, she placed sixth overall in the World Cup standings.
"It's actually one place higher from last year. I finished seventh in the World Cup series and sixth this year. The world championships didn't go as planned but from the world cup results I still had some really good scores," Simpson said.
"I've always wanted to be an Olympian, always watched the Olympics, and was just in awe of the athletes... Not even one per cent of the world can call themselves Olympians. When you think of the Olympics you're just like wow that's the pinnacle of sport."
Within the last couple of years of competing on the international stage, Simpson explained she started to believe the Olympics could be a real possibility for her. In times of adversity, she admitted there were doubts but her belief in herself helped her achieve her goal.
"Over the past two years, I've been gaining my confidence and finding my footing but now here I am," she said. "Being the only BMXer going makes me want to give it my all out there because there's such a big BMX community, especially back home. I want to inspire them and let them know that it's possible."
Simpson began riding at 10 years old at the Red Deer BMX Race Club. Her cousin Mitchell Rindal, who also raced BMX, influenced her to give it a try and it didn’t take long before she fell in love with the sport.
From there she quickly picked up speed competitively as an amateur racer winning seven provincial championships plus other accolades. Simpson now competes among elite women internationally and was also named to the Canadian development team at just 14 years old.
The Olympics are set to begin from July 26 to Aug. 11 and Simpson hopes to keep the experience as normal as possible.
"I know there's going to be distractions and it's going to be different. However, it is just another race. It's another race to just do me and my process but the external factors I think will be different," she said.
"The crowd, people, atmosphere, and the whole game experience will be different than other races. In the end, I've been racing these girls for four years now so it's not like I'm going in blind."
In 2023, Simpson earned a silver medal at the Pan Am Games which was her first major Games experience. She said that will also help her heading into the Olympics.
"I think I have an idea of what it's going to be like and I'm just going to take everything that comes my way and use it as a way to fuel my process. I'm going to enjoy the moment."
