Tanya Bailey

Australian Tanya Bailey is a four-time Elite Women’s National Champion, a two-time Pacific Oceanic Champion, and an Olympian, representing Australia in BMX for the very first time at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

She is also a senior figure amongst a proud lineage of elite female athletes from Australia who have graced both the national and international arena with incredible success for so many years.

As an outstanding junior rider, Tanya won multiple Australian age titles before imposing herself on the Junior and Elite Women's classes. She has the rare distinction of claiming the number one plate in the elite women's class for three consecutive years between 2001 and 2003. For a decade she fought for supremacy alongside the finest elite female riders in the country; superstars including Natarsha Williams, Renee Junga, Chloe MacPherson, Nicole Callisto and Melissa Mankowski.

Taking her racing to the next level, she was a finalist at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. In 2023 she finished as the Number 2 ranked female rider after multiple rounds of the UCI Elite Women's World Series. With a wry smile and a touch of regret, Tanya says she could have won the UCI World Title that year, had she attended just one more round. In 2008, at the pinnacle of her racing career, Tanya was selected to represent Australia at the Olympic Games, where she finished as a semi-finalist, in a creditable 16th place.

When Tanya reflects on her proudest moment in BMX, she will tell you that it wasn't winning on the national or international stage or even representing her country at the Beijing Olympics. Back in 1998, Tanya was preparing for the Australian titles in Knox, Victoria as a 17-year-old when she learned that her mother had been diagnosed with cancer, and wasn't able to be with her, as she usually was. After progressing seamlessly to the final, Tanya missed her start and was in last place over the first jump. Determined to do her mother proud, Tanya carved up the field, hitting the lead with an audacious swoop in the last turn to claim the Australian title for herself, but more importantly, for her mum.

Having retired from BMX racing after fulfilling her Olympic dreams, Tanya returned to The West and a quieter pace of life. However, like so many of Australia's BMX Hall of Famers, the thrill of competitive cycling is never completely sated. Earlier this year, Tanya competed at her first Masters Downhill Mountain Bike World Championships in Cairns where she was crowned World Champion