Olympics can be magic
Olympics can be magic; they can be heartbreak. I have had both. |
This just happened! |
I have
learned a lot from each year of racing mountain bikes, but the heartbreak of
underperforming in London at the Olympics probably taught me the most. It
taught me how to be true to myself as an athlete and how to find the right
ingredients I needed to perform.
Preparing
for the games in 2012 I let the seriousness of trying to win a medal, and
consequently coming up short, steal the joy away from what I was doing. I had
to be perfect and anything less wasn’t enough.
That unforgiving mindset gives you no room to come back from adversity
or to value a great performance that may be shy of Gold, Silver or Bronze. It
means a solid performance can quickly derail into a poor one.
I always
perform best when I am smiling and embracing the challenge of racing and after
London it took a year to find that joy again and another year to turn that into
success with a World Championship win.
Going into
my third Olympic Games in Rio I was determined to remember that performing on
the highest stage IS fun! It is an opportunity to give your best and
see what you can do. I was determined to embrace the magic of the games despite
knowing that some people would think I wasn’t focused. That focused athletes should only be
recovering in their rooms when not out training. But that is not how I perform. I was determined to vocalize and commit to “having the
best performance” I could have rather than stating “I was going to Rio to medal
and that anything else would be a disappointment”, because THAT is the attitude where I find my best. I was determined to put
out a race I could ride away from with my head held high even if there was no
medal draped around my neck.
Despite
being a much more dominant racer headed into the 2012 Games in London, I went
into the 2016 Games in Rio a much more confident, relaxed and happy
athlete. When I went down in a crash on
the start loop before even entering the first full lap I couldn’t believe
it. I headed into the first climb 25th
out of 30 women. But if you know me you
know that coming back from poor starts has become a necessarily skill. I knew in Beijing in 2008 I was in the 20’s
off the start and rode to 4th, 9seconds off Bronze. I knew it was possible.
When my
shifting stopped working halfway through the lap though I started to get
demoralized. I climbed flag mountain
hoping the camera wasn’t on me so that people wouldn’t see me lugging this
massive gear and wondering why I was riding so poorly. I caught a group of 4 women
but had no ability to accelerate past them.
When I reached the tech zone my team Canada mechanic, Adam trotter,
quickly got the jammed shifter moving again, but I was now over 1-minute back. I couldn’t believe this was my Olympics. I was so ready and it was coming down to bad
Luck.
Giving up
never occurred to me. I just had a
harder job. I thought back to the World
Cup in La Bresse where I had brought back a 1.40 gap. I could do this. I have never been so grateful a course had no
trees! When I cleared traffic and got to
Flag mountain the following lap I could actually see the leaders. Sure they were far ahead, but not that far. Getting there was possible and my coach Dan
was there with the necessary time splits to remind me it really was
possible.
I know how
my body feels when I’m riding well, how my legs need to drive, where my eyes
need to look. I knew I couldn’t play
around with tactics, that if I wanted to get to the front I had to drive the
pace and make it happen. I had played
out in my mind every single scenario that could have played out in this
race. This was not the scenario I
wanted, but I knew, in my mind at least, I had come through this and gotten to
the front. Every lap the front became more
and more possible.
With two
laps to go, a highlight was riding with both my Luna teammate Katerina Nash and
my Canadian Teammate Emily Batty in 3rd, 4th and 5th. At
least one of us would have a great day! I kept driving the pace and was able to
open a gap and keep growing it into the final lap.
Leading Emily and Katerina into the staircase on lap 4. The girls went on to claim their career bests in 4th and 5th |
Then 200m
from the finish the unthinkable happened.
I crashed. It was 100% my
fault. I entered a jump too fast or too
tired and all of a sudden I was getting sideways in the air and came down hard. I can’t even verbalize the intensity of that
moment, the thousand thoughts spiraling through my head as I realized I may
have just crashed myself out of an Olympic medal. I ran and hopped back on my bike with no
momentum for the next rock garden. As I turned
into the finish stadium I looked back and saw Emily chasing me down. I poured everything I had into that moment
and as I seized up coming through the last corner into the finish line I had to
find more. After being 25 seconds ahead
I was only 2 at the finish line, just enough the raise an arm and savour the
moment of earning an Olympic medal.
I LOVE my
Bronze. To me it is Gold. I got everything I wanted out of that
performance. It was far from perfect,
but it was magic. I rode the race of my
life and got exactly out of my performance what I wanted most, a ride that I
could be proud of.
Thank you
to everyone that made this possible even in the smallest way. I know I will
have missed people but please know you are all appreciated!
Coach: Dan
Proulx
Husband:
Keith Wilson
Mum, Dad,
Geoff, Sues, Grainger, Sandra, Jeanine, Bruce, Trent
Luna Staff :
Waldek Stepnioski, Dave Mc:Laughlin, Chris Mathis, Dusty Labarr, Julien
Brugeas
Team Canada
Staff Adam Trotter, Tara Lazarski, Jen
Mahone, Kris Westwood, Jacques Landry,
Team Canada
riders for the awesome team environment and laps: Emily Batty, Leandre
Bouchard, Raphael Gagne, Mike Garrigan
Sport Psych: Sharleen Hoar, Kirsten Barnes
Sponsors: Luna, ClifBar, Orbea, Shimano, Fox, Maxxis, PrAna, SockGuy, Capo, Giro, Oakley, Ceetech, Garmin, Pedros, Victory circle graphics, Genuine Innovations, Inno, Petal Power
Kamloops, BC and Harvey/Fredericton, NB
Coach Dan Proulx |
Keith, keeping me down to earth for 14 years |
Dream Team 2016
|
Thank you!!!! |
Comments
Bravo, congrats, to be. To exist. To share. That is enough. The medal is a passport, but you didn't it to shine.