Read the transcript of the Get Set interview with Shanaze Reade as she prepares for London 2012.
To anyone who wants to become an Olympian, it takes hard work, dedication, and the biggest thing that overrides both of those is enjoyment.
It’s generally wake up at about half past seven, be training for half past eight, that’s the first session. Then have lunch then the second session of training. So it is generally two sessions of training a day. Each session lasts for about two hours.
Kelly Holmes for sure is one of my sporting heroes just because it took her so long to climb the ladder but she never stopped. For sure her determination and courage to keep going the whole time, and the fight to win. I don’t think any other athlete compares to that.
My Grandaddy always says there is always someone around the corner faster than you. That motivates me to do well, and not have anyone beat me. I haven’t lost a race for ten years, but I mean, there is always set back in an athlete’s career, but to me it is about having the drive and determination to win. But you know, before I start racing it’s like, I’m really excited, like the night before I usually have four or five hours’ sleep. You’ve trained hard and you are in the best shape of your life, you just want to get out there and race!
The morning of the time trial event in my discipline, when I put my race shirt on and I kind of thought ‘this is it’, and it was the most proudest moment I’ve ever had, and just to stand there and just thinking at home, my family will feel so proud of me. I matured so much as an athlete, and as a person. I took all the bad things that happened to me there and tried to turn them into positives.
At first I thought, I can’t put myself through another four years, and have that happen to me again, I thought, I haven’t got it in me, but they say time’s a great healer, and it definitely was, and I took a step back and looked at everything and assessed my life and thought, what better life is there, than to ride your bike every day for a living, what else can give me that same excitement and enjoyment? And BMX and cycling and sport in general is where I want to be.
I have such a strong desire in my stomach now to win a gold medal, and the likes of Chris Hoy, achieving greatness and being a Sir, that is something I really aspire to and I really want to happen to me, and now I’ve just got to do it.
I’m going to be going for four events in the Olympic Games in 2012, obviously BMX racing, and track cycling, and I’ll be doing Match Sprint, hopefully against Victoria Pendleton. And there’s another event, Freestyle BMX. So there’s four opportunities there for me and I’ve got a lot of making up to do from China, so I’ve got the hunger.
