BMX freestyle champion Hannah Roberts has packed a lot of travel, achievement, and personal growth 23 years. She’s participated in two Olympic games in the past five years, taking home the Silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and placing 8th at last year’s Paris event. But for Roberts, biking is only half the story. chatted with Roberts about her Lego obsession, her many pets, helping the next generation of athletes, and what comes next in her own career.
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: Hi! How was France?
Hannah Roberts:
It was hot, but it was super fun.
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It’s pretty hot here too. I’m in LA. You’re in…
Salt Lake.
I have no sense of what the weather is like there but I imagine it’s hopefully better than here?
It’s pretty warm—when you’re out in the sun it gets pretty gnarly.
And you have to wear all that gear. So it’s not comfy.
Not usually.
Because I have two dogs, I’m obsessed with the fact that you have four dogs. Are the dogs thrilled that you’re back?
My dogs—two of my dogs are at my parents’ house in Michigan, because this month was busy and next month I’ll be gone for three weeks straight, so it’s just easier that they’re there. But they get really excited every time I come. And two of my dogs are back in Virginia with my girlfriend. She’s going to medical school. So she’s got two of them and a cat.
And a cat! Awesome.
Too many animals.
Do you have plans to get more dogs?
No. Not for awhile. All the dogs are between four years old and one year old, so I’m gonna let them grow up.
And you’ve raised them all from puppies?
Yeah. I adopted two and then one of them was a purebread German Shepard that I bought, she got pregnant and had the other ones.
Oh wow hardcore. That sounds like an exciting dog situation. Especially if there’s a cat in the mix. The dream.
Yeah he was raised like a dog. So he gets excited. He sits by the door and waits.
So in terms of your career, you’ve accomplished so much in a short amount of time. I’m wondering what your plans are for the future in terms of competing?
I want to compete for a pretty long time. I’m doing school and I want to get done with my degree and completely be able to start the career that I want after this. I have quite a few years of schooling ahead of me. I want to compete in two or three more Olympics, that’s been the goal the whole time. That’s what I’m aiming for. The only thing I’d really do different is take my time and enjoy every moment. I don’t know if I did that enough, especially during the first games. I don’t remember too much of the process leading up to it, it’s just all hectic and there was nothing really organized or thought about too much. I did better for Paris, and moving forward every event I just sort of embrace what it takes to get there.
So you’re planning for a career after this. What’s that going to look like?
I’m studying pre-law. I want to be a corporate lawyer when I retire from this. I just finished my first year of school and I have three more years of undergraduate, then I want to go to law school.
You’ll have had two really intense but very different careers.
Yeah, right now I’m really interested in corporate law, so I think that’s what I’m going to stick to. I have a pretty decent knowledge of contracts just from this career that I’ve been on. I like learning, and law is always constantly changing. So I get to continue my education through my career, which is pretty fun for me.
What was it about law that got you interested?
When I was 19 and in North Carolina, I bought a house, and it felt a little stagnant. Everything was so postponed with COVID, I just kind of felt stuck. So I started watching YouTube videos and learned how to remodel my house. I did that for multiple years, just going room to room. It got me really excited and I kind of learned through that process that I like to expand my knowledge as much as possible. I learned how to do everything, electrical, plumbing. My neighbor came over and he worked for a construction company so if I was doing something I was unsure of he would walk me through it. I knew I needed a career that wasn’t the same thing all the time. There’s always new laws and new legislation coming out, always new rulings on old laws. That’s super interesting to me. And I respect the freedom that the country gives to us as Americans, and I want to help people fight for the right things.
Corporate law is interesting because we’re already seeing so much upheaval with the AI stuff. There’s going to be so much reconfiguring of the law around that.
It’s been pretty cool so far just learning everything.
What do you do for relaxation? Are there couch potato moments?
I moved to Salt Lake for a skate park called Core, and right now we’re in the developing stages of trying to get camps created for kids, helping out the next generation. So a lot of my time spent here, either riding, working out, or coming up with a plan to move forward. When I go home I legit sit on my couch and build legos. I only take one day off a week, and that’s Sunday, and I go for a 20-mile bike ride each Sunday, or hiking if it’s cooler. I don’t really sit on the couch too often.
That’s super healthy and the opposite of my life, wow. Are there any pop culture things that you’re obsessed with?
I watch the same TV shows. Whatever I’ve already watched I’ll have playing in the background while I do my Legos. I’m not behind too much of what’s happening in the world, I just read my books in the morning when I drink coffee and watch NCIS. Watch some random documentary.
What books do you read in the morning?
Usually psychology books. I was really it as a teenager and I never really lost that. Just better ways to train your mind. It’s really helped me grow up in the last couple years.
Describe the Lego situation.
Usually when I’m by myself, I’ll do sets. I have way too many Lego sets if I’m honest. When I’m back home with my family in Michigan, my nephews love Legos. I have three nephews: 14, 9, and one that’s just about to turn 3. So we build things and then the 3-year-old destroys them. I’m trying to get them doing something other than video games.
That’s a perfect nephew activity.
My 14-year-old nephew hasn’t stopped liking it yet. Every time I come to town I’ll get him his own set, so he can follow the instructions and do his thing. So he’s obsessed with them because every time I come in he knows I’ll bring him a car or something. The younger kids just like building whatever. And the 3-year-old just likes kicking them down.
What’s something that makes you proud to be a part of Gen Z?
Interesting one. I think the main thing is…shoot. That’s a hard one. There’s a lot of great things about the generation but there’s also some not great thing.
True of most generations.
Honestly, looking towards the generation after Gen Z, I feel like we have one of the last-standing decent work ethics. But yeah, we’re very technology-based so I’m pretty proud that we figured out technology faster than our parents. My parents still struggle with Facebook.
You guys are the first generation to be born a world where the Internet already exists so yeah.
Yeah I feel like every time I lose my phone I’m like…I don’t even do too much with it, but if it’s not there I know.
What’s something you’re looking forward to?
There’s a couple things in the next few months, X Games is one of them. My parents are coming out to watch me compete. Since being in Salt Lake I’ve wanted to take more of a stance in the community and try to help grow BMX freestyle. Through Core, I’m able to do that. Starting the summer camps will be really exciting for me.
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