Larsen shares his Olympic accomplishments with hometown
The opening of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games on Friday in Paris focuses the eyes of the world on Kamren Larsen.
The Bakersfield native’s story is a familiar one. It is a story repeated by nearly all Olympic competitors. It’s a story of a lifetime of training that began in childhood as just a dream.
Larsen, 24, is one of five members of the USA BMX (Bicycle Motocross) Racing team that will compete in Paris. NBC is broadcasting the Olympics.
Growing up in Bakersfield, Larsen started racing when he was 5 years old. He began traveling across the globe with his bike at 12 years old. Since turning Pro in 2018, he has received the USA BMX “Rookie Pro of the Year,” 2024 BMX National Champion, two-times Silver Medalist at the USA Cycling National Championships, and 2023 Pan American Games BMX Men’s Gold Medalist. He was the 2023 Continental Champion, and third overall in the USA BMX in 2021 and 2023.
Larsen told Forbes magazine recently, while training in France, that as a 12-year-old staying up late in the summer of 2012 to watch the London Games, he knew he wanted to someday perform on the Olympic stage.
“I made a promise to myself from that day forward that I would be willing to do whatever I could to try to make it there,” he said. “I was going to be OK if I failed, as long as I knew that I gave it everything I had.”
Born and raised in Bakersfield and now living in Florida, Larsen said his BMX racing career began on the city’s tracks watching his mother, Sarah Larsen, and uncle compete in BMX racing.
“When (Kamren) learned how to ride a bike without training wheels when he was 2, my dad gave him one of our trophies,” Sarah Larsen said. “And he thought it was the greatest thing, so then he also wanted to have trophies in the garage.”
The Southern and Western states dominate the representation for Team USA in the 2024 Olympics. California has by far the most Olympians and Paralympians with 133, followed by Florida with 46 and Texas with 42.
The only two states to not have any athlete representing them are Wyoming and North Dakota.
The 2024 Games will feature 16 days of competition ending on Aug. 11 and will feature some 10,500 athletes from more than 200 nations.
The modern Olympic Games are leading international sporting events, featuring summer and winter competitions. They are considered the world’s foremost sports competition, with more than 200 teams participating.
The Olympic Games are held every four years. Since 1994, they have alternated between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years during the four-year Olympiad.
Creation of the Games was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. The International Olympic Committee was created in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896.
The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in the creation of the Winter Olympic Games for snow and ice sports, recognition of the Paralympic Games for athletes with disabilities, the Youth Olympic Games for athletes aged 14 to 18, the five Continental Games (Pan American, African, Asian, European, and Pacific), and the World Games for sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games. The IOC also endorses the Deaflympics and the Special Olympics.
There are several Olympic rituals and symbols, such as Friday’s Olympic flag, torch and opening ceremonies and the Aug. 11 closing ceremonies. The Games showcase not only individual athletic accomplishments, but also participating countries’ pride.
Larsen is well-aware of the responsibilities that accompany his membership on Team USA, calling it an honor to represent the United States. “It means a lot to me.”
It means a lot to those in his Bakersfield hometown to be able to cheer him on and share in his accomplishments.