TUCSON, Ariz. — Those watching the 2024 Olympics can tune in to see some Arizona faces racing in the BMX competition.
Daleny Vaughn, a 23-year-old Tucson native, will compete in her first Olympics this year.
"I'm super blessed and thankful for the opportunity," Daleny Vaughn said. "I'm excited to go there and represent the USA and Arizona, and really just give it my all and see what we can do."
Daleny Vaughn said she likes to say she was born into BMX since her parents own the track she grew up practicing on and her older brother also rode BMX.
"Once I started to ride up, like, learn to ride a bike, I got on the track and fell in love with it instantly," Daleny said. "It's something that I've always wanted to do."
Kirk Vaughn, her father, recalled the moment their family knew Daleny Vaughn could start riding.
"She had her little bike with training wheels on and we look out the front window and my son had taken off her training wheels and gave her a push," Kirk recalled. "She just started riding down the road and so I guess we thought she's just kind of ready to start riding [and] it just kind of grew from there."
Kirk Vaughn said some of the best advice he could give to parents is to let their kids enjoy the sport they're in and not to push them too hard.
Daleny Vaughn, who competes in 80-100 competitions a year, said one of her biggest inspirations is Corben Sharrah, another Tuscon native who has competed in the Olympics.
"Just seeing his journey and what he got to do riding for USC cycling and Team USA, really just put that goal in my head and something that I wanted to accomplish," Daleny Vaughn said.
Daleny Vaughn said she trains twice a day for two hours at a time and said she's not taking the opportunity to represent team USA for granted.
"You can't take any training days at 90% everything has to be at 100% and the best of your ability to get where you need to be," Daleny Vaughn said.
Daleny Vaughn said she encouraged those who want to get into BMX to get into it even if they don't have a ton of support.
"I was never a big factory team or anything like that growing up, and we didn't go to all the Nationals," Daleny said. "You don't need the best equipment to be the best. You don't need the lightest bike and everything like that."
Journey to Paris
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