DECLAN BROOKS is the Team GB BMX star who had a few stints on TV before embarking on his Olympic dream.
Brooks lines up for his second Olympics after medalling in Tokyo and now competes in the BMX freestyle bracket.
Brooks was born in Portsmouth on July 10, 1996.
He grew up as a keen biker at his local skate park before making a profession out of it.
Brooks won European bronze in 2019 before qualifying for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.
It was delayed a year but he went onto pick up a bronze in the inaugural Olympic Freestyle BMX competition.
But up until 2017, Brooks was touring the US as a two-wheeled trickster in Cirque du Soleil.
He said: “It’s completely different, ads are so much easier.
“You don’t get the competition stress that you would at a contest but that’s why we compete, that’s why we want to turn up and be the best every time.
“I’ve done shows for Cirque du Soleil and it’s not the same feeling as competing, you’re doing the same thing every night – for us it gets a little bit boring.
“That’s why I eventually came back to competitions and when the Olympics came around, I knew that was something that I wanted to do straight away.”
Brooks also featured on the ITV dating series Take Me Out while starring in movies and TV adverts for the likes of Cadbury.
He revealed: “Before the Olympics there were so many different avenues to BMX and back then we did do a lot of appearances in films and adverts.
“Cadbury was an online promotion and then we did Mary Poppins for a few months, which was pretty cool, and a couple of Bollywood films, so you could say we’ve been about a bit.
“Now I just want to ride for as long as possible.”
Yes, Brooks will be competing in the Paris Olympics.
He will represent Team GB in the BMX Freestyle – like he did in 2021 when he took bronze.
The Games officially kicks off from Friday, July 26 and culminates on Sunday, August 11.
But the BMX freestyle gets underway on Tuesday, July 30.
The final then follows the next day.
