Hannah Roberts looked perfectly at ease relaxing on a covered porch on a rainy July morning in Michigan, just weeks before she left for the Paris Olympics, content that she had put in the work necessary to win the gold medal that escaped her in Tokyo.
For the past three years, the best freestyle BMX rider of her generation has been driven by the silver she took home instead.
If I'm being honest, Roberts told The Associated Press, while keeping an eye on the rambunctious kids she was babysitting, I don't know whether silver or bronze would make too much difference for me. And maybe it's better for me the first time not to win. I think if I would have walked away with gold, I wouldn't have had the motivation to keep going forward.
Now, the 22-year-old Roberts is coming off her fifth world title in a seven-year span, and again the heavy favorite to win Olympic gold. The competition begins Tuesday at the urban sports park built at Place de la Concorde in the heart of Paris.
Hannah is .
