Las Vegas BMX Olympic Athlete: Connor Fields
Green Valley High School graduate, Connor Fields, is competing in the Summer Games Tokyo 2021 in the BMX Racing event. He was born and raised in Henderson, Nevada, and is currently with pro teams, Chase Bicycles and Monster Energy (Present).
At seven years old, Fields loved riding his bike on the neighborhood streets. One day, his bike broke and his mom took it to a local bike shop and found a flier for the Las Vegas BMX Show. They gave it a shot, and Fields fell in love instantly. From there, all he wanted was to become a pro BMXer. He started taking practice seriously and focused his energy into the sport. At age 11, he quit all other sports to focus on BMX. His youth career was slow up until age 16 when he won the USA BMX National Age Group #1 Title three times. After ending his youth career, his goal was to compete in the Olympics after BMX was integrated in the games in 2005.
Fields announced his pro career after recovering from his knee injury, around mid 2011. He achieved his lifelong goal of earning a gold Olympic medal in the Olympic Games Rio 2016.
(Courtesy of USA Cycling / Angelina Palermo)
“Being an older rider, I understand the value of experience. The fact that I’ve been to two Olympics; I’ve had one go great and I won it, and I had one not go well. I’ve been through both ends of the spectrum and I know what to expect. I have a really good idea of what it’s going to take to go win another medal in Tokyo. As cliche as it sounds, it’s just about one day at a time, one training session at a time focusing on doing everything you can to be prepared. And then when you get there, just executing your game plan and riding smart… I really don’t feel any added pressure. I’ve already won the Olympics and no one can take it away from me. I will be an Olympic champion for the rest of my life. So now I just get this added bonus of being able to try again. How many people only get to go to the Olympics once? How many people don’t get another chance to try again? I get the chance to try to win again and that’s really exciting for me.”
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Want to read more about Las Vegas Olympic athletes?
Check out, “Tokyo Olympics 2021: Meet The Las Vegas Olympians“
