Akram Alnuaimy: Taking BMX to new heights

If you ever want to feel your heart drop into your stomach, Akram Alnuaimy’s Instagram is a good place to start. The Iraqi BMX athlete regularly posts content of himself cruising across architectural marvels and clearing flights of 15 steps at a time. It’s a level of fearlessness that has to be genetic. To the horror of every security guard on the premises, Akram is pedalling to the medal all across Dubai, spreading the word on the potential of BMXers and extreme sports athletes in Southwest Asia and North Africa along the way.

It’s difficult to imagine that someone scaling buildings with a bike would lack nerve in other contexts. But growing up in Dubai, Akram’s childhood was marked by a reticence that only biking helped mitigate. “I saw BMX as an opportunity to break away from my introverted habits,” Akram tells Dazed MENA. “It allowed me to meet a spectrum of people whom I would have never had the privilege of meeting if it wasn’t for my bike.”

Now 23, Akram has become a prominent figure for young BMX riders and other extreme athletes in the region. Despite its growing community and undeniable skill, BMX has yet to gain the full recognition it deserves as a legitimate sport from the broader sports world, particularly in the Arab world. Akram hopes to rectify this reputation. “I hope to inspire more of the region’s youth to pick up extreme sports and help them discover new passions and legitimise these sports in the eyes of the public in the region.”

Akram is determined to show that extreme sports have a place in the region, challenging the idea that they’re a western domain. “Extreme sports aren’t exclusive only to the people from the west,” the young athlete posits. “[My work] proves that [the SWANA] region’s youth can attempt great things in extreme sports; that we can do it too.”

Behind every daring jump and risky ride, Akram’s motivation runs deeper than adrenaline. He’s fuelled by a vision of a future where Arab athletes have a presence on an international level. “I’m driven by the goal of inspiring today’s youth, the hope of witnessing someone from our region representing us on the global stage in the future and the possibility of having played some role in helping one of us reach that monumental accomplishment.”

For many young athletes, the dream is to be backed by big names; for Akram, the idea of success has evolved to accommodate more ambitious plans. “As a kid, a sponsorship from brands such as Red Bull seems like the grand prize for someone practicing sports such as mine,” Akram shares. “But now that I’ve grown older, I realised that far greater things can be achieved on a personal scale. Currently, my main goal is to travel to as many countries as possible and explore various places and cultures while I still can, all with the help of my bike.”

And it seems that the athlete is well on his way. From Armenia to Uzbekistan, Akram has tackled some menacing bike paths outside of his base in Dubai. But even with a shift in focus, certain milestones still stand out – like tackling the strikingly sinuous curves of an iconic structure. “I fulfilled a three-year-old dream of mine when I rode down Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi, designed by the iconic Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid.” 

Videos from this feat are palm-sweat-inducing indeed, but Akram seemed impervious to the scale of it, thrilled to navigate the undulating engineering triumph. In learning to surmount these insane buildings and bridges, the athlete found another passion in architecture. This winter, he’s set to leave his mark in a new way: “I’m building Baghdad’s first concrete skate park!” Akram announces with pride. “I’m collaborating with a non-profit organisation to build the facility and provide skateboards and BMX bikes to the homies back in my hometown.”

With each pedal stroke and project, Akram is opening up new paths for others to follow, giving young extreme sports enthusiasts an intrepid role model and the space to follow his lead. “I hope that future generations feel less scared about pursuing things that may seem stigmatised by the society which we live in.”