How Hometown Hero Logan Martin Went From Local Kid with a Bike to Olympic Gold

In Partnership with Old El Paso

If hurtling down a plywood ramp as fast as gravity will allow, only to be spat up into the sky a few seconds later sounds like your idea of a fun Tuesday, you’re probably already familiar with the extreme, athletic stylings of hometown BMX hero Logan Martin.

Hailing from the Queensland city of Logan (yes, same as his first name), a locality filled with green expanses and wide roads, Martin is a small town boy whose love of BMX has taken him to the world stage.

“Being a hometown hero is crazy”, he tells us in our latest video, in the lead-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics. “I never thought I’d be in this position. I still look at myself as just a normal guy that rides a bike. It also feels like I’m not just there for myself – I’m there for everyone that’s supporting me as well.”

And it’s evident in the broad fanbase he’s established in his hometown – a reminder that competition at this level unites people from all walks of life when it comes to cheering on one of their own.

Since his first start competing on two wheels at the tender age of 12, Martin didn’t look ahead to see a new path, road, or track to take his beloved BMX for a burn – he looked up.

Martin’s serious efforts have paid off. And we mean serious – this is a man who spent a cool $70k tricking out his massive backyard with a competition-grade BMX circuit after his local one closed down pre-COVID. While other professional BMX athletes were unable to get to their preferred BMX parks to train due to lockdowns, Martin could tumble out of bed and hit the ground rolling to his heart’s content.

During the 2020 Tokyo Games – which happened in 2021 thanks to the aforementioned lockdowns – Martin became the first ever Olympic Gold Medalist in the BMX Freestyle category – nearly ten years after first competing as a pro.

“All the work goes towards putting in my best performance at a competition”, Martin tells us in our latest campaign with Mexican-inspired taco doyens Old El Paso.

“All those hours pretty much to do a sixty-second run. When you are trying to increase your level each day, you are definitely building those nerves. When I’m spinning and flipping, it does sort of feel like you’re flying. There is a sense of like a slow-motion sort of feeling to it – you’re so present in the moment.”

So what do this local hero’s spins, flips and tail whips have to do with taco night? To Martin, it’s not a hard line to draw.

“Spending lots of time with my family helps me balance out my life. [It’s] not unordinary for us to have taco night. [It’s] always a fun time.”

His love of tacos goes wherever he does thanks to his spiffy taco riding gloves – who said extreme sports couldn’t be stylish?

While Logan is likely bashing the boards of his backyard circuit on the daily in preparation for Paris 2024, where he’ll defend his champion status on the world stage, we’re thinking about how we’re going to support all of our hometown heroes and Aussie sporting legends when the day arrives.

And what better way to feed the masses without missing any of the action than taco night? Everybody gets to choose their own adventure – it’s couch-friendly cuisine, and you can give your tastebuds a reason to cheer as loud as you do.

With nearly 500 Aussie hometown heroes set to compete in what looks to be the most exciting Olympics for our wide brown land yet, there are more reasons than ever to rally the troops and cheer your own local legends on from the comforts of home.

Paris 2024 is just a couple of months away—check in here for more updates as we celebrate our nation’s love of sport with everybody’s favourite night of the week: Taco Tuesday (or Wednesday. Or Thursday. Or Fri— …..