WHYTE Kye

General
INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION
He has spoken about his experiences around gang culture growing up in London, England. He says the sport helped him stay out of trouble at a young age, and that he wants to inspire the next generation of BMX riders. "Kids are a big part of our sport. When we go to the nationals, loads of kids come up to us. In the elite men's competitions, there's only space for 200 riders, and not every kid makes it there. When these kids are young, they look up to the best. That gives them the drive. It makes me happy to know I'm inspiring kids. We'll always remember where we came from. That gang life is not something that appeals to me. Growing up in London is not always the best place. If you're involved in that crowd, you'll be involved in that crowd in bad ways. We've had friends in that crowd. Maybe when we were younger, you had the wrong crowd coming maybe to take your belongings. It has happened to me before. Doing BMX meant everyone kind of respected me. They thought, 'He's not in that crowd. He wants to do his thing'." (forbes.com, 03 Mar 2020; thesun.co.uk, 24 Jul 2019)

SIBLING RIVALRY
He says he has a supportive but competitive relationship with his brother Tre, who is also an elite-level BMX racer. "Because I'm the younger brother I've kept Tre more on his toes. When I first started, I wasn't as good as I am now. Racing my brother at the elite level is a big deal for me because I like to see everyone doing well even though there is one winner. It's great racing with him, we help each other out at the races if we have the same heat and we give each other confidence but when it's making finals and winning it's every man for himself." (forbes.com, 03 Mar 2020; bmxweekly.com, 29 May 2018)

FUTURE PLANS
He has said that he would like to open a business in Manchester, England. "I'd like to open up my own shop, selling chicken wings. It's my favourite food. A shop in Manchester that only sells wings, that I created from the ground up, and make it into big business. I have a plan to set up a bar near where I live. There's not many places to go and drink with friends around where I live so I wanted to set up a little business. I want to start up something which I can say I own and which I can be proud of. Whether it works or not, that's the risk you have to take. It's something I still want to have alongside my sport in the future. I've never had anything else besides BMX in my life. If BMX doesn't work out then I don't have anything to fall back on. I want to be in the position where I'm doing great in BMX and I can also invest in my future with a business." (forbes.com, 03 Mar 2020; eurosport.com, 20 Aug 2020)