The Paris Olympics are here, at last, and it’s strange to admit that I am excited rather than nervous. It’s taken me 12 years to reach this point. I am proud to have won five gold medals at three successive Olympic Games in London, Rio and Tokyo but I’ve also got one title that you might not expect. On the surface I was pretty good at looking confident and relaxed but, deep down, I always thought I was the most nervous Olympic champion you could ever meet.
I would be sick with nerves before a race while my hands were sweaty and shaking. But one thing made a difference. I was able to understand that this was normal at the Olympics.
So if I did have to rush to the loo to be sick, while the velodrome was rammed with spectators having the time of their lives, I kept thinking clearly. I would come straight back out and make sure I had an energy drink or gel. It was all routine for me. The nerves were part of the process and, because I was so good at accepting them, they really didn’t affect me on the bike.
I retired earlier this year, to concentrate on being a full-time mum to our two boys, Albie and Monty. I am not going to miss the inevitable stress and nausea of competition but part of my growing excitement is that I might lose my secret crown as the most nervous Olympic champion of all-time to another British bike rider – the brilliant sprint cyclist Emma Finucane.
No pressure here, Emma, but I’m ready to roll the dice and say that she is the one member of Team GB I really back to light up Paris. Emma is only 21, but already a world champion, and she has a serious chance of winning gold in the individual sprint and, before then, doing something special in the team sprint and keirin. She has a rare talent.
We’re quite similar because, before she won the individual sprint at last year’s world championships in Glasgow, Emma was crying in the toilets. As she said later: “When you’re so close to gold, it’s really hard. I wanted it so bad and, before the final, I was so nervous.”
I understood what Emma meant when she also said crying helped her “get it out … and then I came back and just raced and left everything on the track.”
That’s a girl, and future Olympic champion, after my own heart.
I wasn’t surprised when she won the worlds because my husband, Jason, had been raving about her for months. Jason knows a thing or two about sprint cycling, having won nine Olympic medals, seven of them gold, and his work since retirement as a rider has given him insight into Emma’s potential. In his role as the coach of the men’s sprint squad, Jason is often trackside when Emma and the female sprinters are training.
There have been so many nights over the past year where Jase has come home saying: “Wow, Emma’s flying!” He dazzles me with her times but I’m used to hearing glowing reviews of Emma. My sister, Emma Trott, used to be the GB junior coach and she would see Emma training often. She was convinced Emma would be a star of endurance racing.
My Emma once told me that Emma Finucane was the next great champion we’d have in the omnium – one of my events. But young Emma just got quicker and quicker. She goes faster on her third lap, in a team sprint, than most riders do on their second lap. That’s insane. Emma can win multiple medals in Paris – and she’ll be trying for gold in all of them in the second week.
after newsletter promotion
I will be following so many sports in Paris – from swimming, diving and athletics to canoeing, gymnastics and trampolining. It’s a thrilling prospect for me – as are the expectations for Team GB. Kate Barker, the head of performance, said recently that we’re aiming to win between 50 and 70 medals. That goal sounds realistic and I would not be surprised if we break the GB record for most medals won in a single Games – the 67 we came home with from Rio in 2016.
Someone suggested we could finish second in the overall medal table. That’s a long shot, and some going, as GB would have to beat either China or the USA. But the fact that a few optimistic people are even considering that remote possibility shows how well we are doing.
I will be fascinated by the individual stories behind the glory and the tears. I feel a bond with Adam Peaty – who is trying to become only the second male swimmer in history, after Michael Phelps, to win Olympic gold in the same event at three successive Games. In 2016 and 2021, Adam and I were both expected to just rock up and become certain Olympic champions. We did it but the pressure was immense. If he could do it again in the 100m breaststroke, especially after all his personal struggles outside the pool, it would be one of the great Olympic stories.
I saw Adam at Wimbledon earlier this month and, in between the tennis, we had time to chat. He seemed very happy and he realises that just being back in the Olympic pool is a victory for him – whatever the outcome of the final on Sunday night.
Whether it’s Adam picking up another medal, or Emma taking my title as the most nervous Olympic champion, I can’t wait to see what will happen in Paris.