Declan Brooks produced a brilliant performance to win BMX Freestyle Park bronze just two months after being left unconscious by a horror crash that put his Olympic dreams in doubt.
Brooks thought his ambitions were over after he was 'scraped off the floor' and taken to hospital but the 25-year-old is made of tough stuff.
And less than an hour after team-mate Charlotte
Worthington had won the women's title, Brooks added a fourth medal to Britain's BMX haul - following Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte's gold and silver in BMX Racing on Friday.He had a long wait after his 90.80 second run to learn his medal fate - watching six rivals take on his score.
Australia's Logan Martin took gold while Venezuela's Daniel Dhers edged out Brooks for silver in the first Games in which BMX Freestyle Park has been held.
Big home hope Rim Nakamura was the last to try and shift Brooks from the podium but he settled for fifth, with all four of Team GB's BMX athletes winning medals on Olympic debut in Tokyo.
Brooks, 25, from Portsmouth, said: “I’ve just cried for the past couple of minutes. It’s an unbelievable journey I’ve had on the way here, I’m just so stoked to win a medal.
“I don’t think it’s going to sink in today. For Charlotte [Worthington] to do her thing today, a score out there and tricks we’ve never seen before, it was harder for me to focus in.
“I knew the run I wanted to pull, I still missed a few bits out today. I’d have liked to have done more but third place for me was mental.
“Anything is possible. It’s such a high-pressure situation that, these are world-class athletes. I was crossing my fingers, I can’t believe it.
“I just hope it [BMX] gets the coverage it deserves. I’m sure everyone at home is watching as well, to my family – thank you so much for supporting me over the years, it’s been an absolute journey.”
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