By Dave Macleod
"What would you be if you weren't a BMX rider?" Sifiso Nhlapo looks whim-sically out of the window as he searches for the answer. "I don't know," he says after some serious thought. "I really don't know. BMX is all I do. It is all I want to do. It is what I was meant to do. There is nothing else."
The quietly-spoken 23-year-old from Brackendowns in Gauteng has rocketed to global stardom and at home he is instantly recognised and showered with adoration wherever he goes. The BMX community know him as 'Skizo' and going into the UCI BMX World Championships in Pietermaritzburg this weekend, it seems as if a lot of paths in his young life are converging in a couple of heady days of racing.
BMX as a sport is very much a cinderella discipline in South Africa. Nhlapo has helped propel the sport out of the shadows and into the arena with the bigger activities such as road cycling, canoeing and road running - it may not have the following of rugby, soccer and cricket, but BMX is a young sport on the way up.
As a nation, South Africa held its breath as Skizo carried our hopes into a surreal inaugural Olympic men's elite main final in Beijing two years ago, only to have his and his country's dream disintegrate as he went down in a dramatic crash.
He dusted himself off and as he had done many times before and since, digested the experience and moved on.
"Sure, I go back to the Olympics and what happened," he says candidly. "It's one of those things that you have to deal with and hopefully walk away from as a stronger and wiser person and competitor."
In the 10 years that he has been racing BMX, five of them as a full-time pro, Nhlapo has had to bounce back from adversity over and over again.
But it hasn't dampened either his determination or his hunger to succeed.
Born and raised in Dobsonville, Soweto, Nhlapo grew up with bikes scattered around his home. He was sent to school in Potchefstroom as his mother strived to secure the best education for the youngster. It was there that he stumbled on BMX when he went to watch a school mate racing.
In no time at all he was racing - albeit on a borrowed freestyle bike - and the bug bit. His mother made the necessary sacrifices to be able to provide him with bikes to be able to race seriously.
And Skizo repaid her with a rise that has been meteoric, and he was soon a regular in the junior ranks at the world champs.
It was in Paris in 2005 that the world stood up and took notice of the stocky South African when he won the junior world title.
Nhlapo has just returned from a lengthy tour of the United States, where he consistently raced into major finals as his quest for glory took him to the race meetings where the world's best riders were in action.
Now he's racing for a world title in a post-World Cup South Africa - and the pressure of public expectation is massive.
"Sure, there is pressure, but this is what I have chosen to do," says Nhlapo. "I am grateful for the support of my fans and I have to turn that pressure into positive energy.
"I am here to win."
Getting back to the burning question about what he would be if BMX was not an option, he digs in his heels. "BMX is my life, and will always be my life. I want to contribute to the sport and put something back."
Currently he puts some of his time into a number of charities and works with Oakley on a project aimed at restoring eyesight to underprivileged children, as well as the Qubeka Foundation that creates "Treepreneurs".
"It's a fantastic project that encourages kids to plant trees. They get rewarded with bikes, with big carrier baskets so they can carry stuff. It changes their whole way of life. It's so powerful," he adds.