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Tokyo 2020: Kye Whyte soars to historic Olympic silver in BMX as years of sacrifice from mum Tracey pays off

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ALMOST two decades of hard work and sacrifice paid off for Tracey Hill and Nigel Whyte as they watched their son Kye soar through the skies of Tokyo to claim silver in his first Olympic Games.

Hill, alongside family and friends, cheered BMX star Kye on from his home track in Burgess Park in the early hours of Friday morning. 

GETTY IMAGES
Kye cheered on Beth Shriever as she beat the legendary Mariana Pajon to Olympic gold[/caption]
TRACEY HILL
Kye started BMXing when he was just four-years-old[/caption]
GETTY IMAGES
Parents Nigel and Tracey made sure their boys raced on weekends[/caption]

Kye got off to a good start flying out of gate four, holding his own in the middle of the pack and keeping pace with eventual winner Niek Kimmann.

The Brit closed the gap in the third straight setting up a grandstand finish, but was pipped to gold by a bike’s length.

And as her youngest son crossed the finish line – becoming Great Britain’s first-ever medallist in the sport – Hill recollected all of the sleepless nights of sleeping in cars to make sure her boys Kye, Tre and Daniel could race on the weekends. But insists it was all worth it. 

Hill told SunSport: “BMX is not a cheap sport, but it’s a sport that they wanted to do and it was something that me and Nigel turned around and said ‘if this is what you want to do, we will work towards getting you there’ and it was not easy.

“We have slept in cars, having the boys get to a national and we can’t afford to get a hotel.

“So we’ve asked people to hide them and we’ve slept in the car, and things like that, you know. 

“It’s sacrifices that parents make for their kids at the end of the day. And it’s all been well, well worth it now. Especially now.”

Hill and Whyte’s perseverance to get Kye, Tre and Daniel to races saw Kye win his first British Championship at the age of four, and helped the 21-year-old dominate his age group in the British BMX scene – winning the title nine years in a row.

It’s sacrifices that parents make for their kids at the end of the day. And it’s all been well, well worth it now. Especially now.

Tracey Hill

Despite watching her serial-winner son dominate on British soil for the best part of a decade, Hill insists watching Kye at the Olympics was a different feeling.

She said: “The feeling we had last night was just – we’ve never had a feeling like that before. 

“We’ve watched Kye race Europeans, Nationals, but this was on a whole bigger scale.

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“This was Kye’s dream and just to see my son race that dream was amazing.”

They say the sky’s the limit, and for Kye it’s both literally and figuratively true. Hill insists he’s eyeing gold at the 2024 Paris Games, and both herself and Nigel will move heaven and earth to be there.

She added: “I know that boy wants that gold medal, so three-year’s time, I know he’s going to try and go for that one, definitely. Me and Nigel will be at that race to support our son if he is there.”

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