Paris Olympics 2024: BMX champion Logan Martin has equipment stolen in Brussels

Australian BMX freestyle champion Logan Martin faced an unfortunate setback as he prepared to defend his Olympic title.

Thieves broke into the team’s van, stealing some of Martin’s equipment in what he described as a “crazy start” to his title defense. Martin, who won gold in Tokyo ahead of Venezuela’s Daniel Dhers, also lost his wallet during the incident.

On Wednesday, Martin shared videos on Instagram showing the van’s passenger side window smashed and police officers talking with a member of the Australian team. The Olympic champion would say that the van got broken into and thankfully his bikes weren’t in it.

“Our van got broken into last night,” he said. “Luckily my bikes weren’t in there, although my bike bags were in there with some things in it.”

“What a crazy start to the trip.”

“Our van got broken into overnight. Luckily most of our stuff was in our room and we managed to recover a lot of it too. I lost my wallet, backpack and a few other things but overall it didn’t end up being too bad. It’s unfortunate when people feel the need to do things like this,” read the statement on Martin’s Instagram post.

Fortunately, Martin and his teammates later found some of their stolen bags near a bench, thanks to the identification tags on the bags. However, the thieves had completely trashed the contents inside the bag as Martin would find his gloves and other equipments lying on the ground near the bench.

The incident occurred in Brussels, where the Australian team was holding a training camp before departing for Paris. Despite this setback, Martin and his team remained focused on their preparations for the upcoming competition.

The BMX cycling event will begin straight with the quarterfinals on August 1 and go on until August 3.