Shanaze Reade was the sole woman to represent Great Britain at the Olympics in 2008 when BMX was included for the very first.
And while she was the favourite to win the gold medal things didn’t quite go to plan in the final. I caught up with her to talk about Beijing and how she is getting ready for London 2012 in two years time.
- You are working with a new coaching appliance called My Coach so can you tell me about it?
My Coach is there to show that we are not robotic and we are breakable athletes as well as not just being out of a mould. But it is also there for children to interact with athletes.
- London 2012 is two years away you’re halfway through your preparation so how is it going?
It’s going absolutely fantastic, this season did start off a little bit shaky because I had a year off with injury last year, but everything is now going in the right direction and I’m going to sit down after the BMX Worlds in July and start discussing track cycling and how I can compete in both track and BMX in 2012. There is a lot of planning still to be done but I think I can definitely make it in London in two disciplines.
- So what does your training regime include and how will your training change as you move into the second two years and as the Olympics draws closer?
I train six days a week normally twice a day, sometimes it can be full time but generally that’s how much I train. Before the Olympics it will pretty much be the same because each year we replicate and then sit down at the end of the year and have debrief on how it went and what we could change to make it better.
So each year is pretty much the same but we do just tweak things slightly to get the best out of ourselves each year.
So on the run up to the Olympics it will pretty much be what I’m doing now but we will really look at the key races to hit hard and what will be the ones to maybe train through.
- 2008 was the first time that BMX had been included in the Olympics so how did you find that and how was your whole Beijing experience when you look back on it now?
My Beijing experience wasn’t how I wanted it to go but looking back at it now I guess it was one of the things that happened to me, just for mental toughness as nothing can ever compare to the pressure I put on myself going into Beijing.
So that sets me up in great stead for London what else can be chucked at me that was chucked at me in Beijing? So it was kind of a good thing because the biggest Olympic Games in my lifetime are going to be in London so what happened to me in Beijing is really going to help with that.
- That leads me into my next question really the final in 2008 didn’t go as you had hoped so what did you take away from that experience that is going to help in two years time?
From that final I just took on board a lot of things, mainly the expectation that I put on myself and that others put on me, at the end of the day you still go home and your family and friends are still there and nothing really changes.
So it’s just to really enjoy the Olympic Games because I don’t think that I let myself enjoy Beijing and my experience there and going into London I really want to relish every opportunity that is given to me. So I’m going to go to the next Olympics and really enjoy it and perform the best that I can perform.
- And how did you get into the sport of BMX in the first place?
My uncle got me involved in cycling because his two children had got into the sport when I was about ten. He used to go down to the BMX track at the time and he asked me if I wanted to go along, at that time I was always doing different sports and trying new things, so I went down to see what it was all about and got hooked from there.
- As well as BMX you also race on the track so how do they compare?
I suppose they are two completely different sports and different disciplines, but I just say that it’s all peddling, I train to fast in a straight line and that crosses over to track cycling and to BMX and they go hand in hand and help each other. Track cycling is predominately a strength based sport while BMX is all based around high leg speed so they both help each other and are a good match.
- You have touched on this already but are you seriously considering doing more than one event in 2012? Will we be seeing you on the track?
Yeah I’m just planning now to compete in both track and BMX in 2012 it’s a big goal to do as I have won two world titles in two different disciplines two years on the run, I did it in 2007 and 2008, so it can be done.
The time scale is about a week apart so again it’s all about planning and British Cycling is one of the best in the business when it comes to plans so I have got 110% faith that they will come up with the right plan so that I can perform for both disciplines.
- 2012 is obviously going to be on home soil so how exciting a prospect is that for you?
Oh it’s going to be unbelievable, Beijing was huge and changed my life but I think that London is just going to be breathtaking.
I went down just the other day to the village, when I last went down it was a building site, but now you can start feeling the goosebumps and feeling you are actually at the Olympics, which is crazy because I have always watched the Olympics on TV and was inspired by the athletes and now I’m going to compete in an Olympics in my own country.
- In 2008 you were the only BMX rider to represent our country so what kind of pressure was that and how are you hoping that will change as we go into 2012?
There is another guy called Liam Phillips and he is starting t put in some good results and I’m sure he will be there, I don’t know to what level but I’m sure that he will be trying to get a medal.
What happened to me in Beijing just gave me a steel shell in a way I have always loved pressure I turn it into a huge positive it makes me adrenalise and makes me up for it but I just think that I was inexperienced when it came to competing in Beijing.
Since then I have worked to try and prevent that from ever happening to me again and whatever happens to me in London won’t be the same as what happened in Beijing, nothing could be as bad as what happened to me there.
- Finally what’s next for you and what competitions will you be competing between now and London?
Next for me is the world championships in July, they are in South Africa, so hopefully I will able to get my title back as last year I couldn’t compete at the worlds because of injury so I really just want to get my world title back.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
To become faster for your sport, download the adidas miCoach app and run in Supernova trainers. Visit facebook.com/adidasrunning to find out more.
Shanaze Reade was the sole woman to represent Great Britain at the Olympics in 2008 when BMX was included for the very first.
And while she was the favourite to win the gold medal things didn’t quite go to plan in the final. I caught up with her to talk about Beijing and how she is getting ready for London 2012 in two years time.
- You are working with a new coaching appliance called My Coach so can you tell me about it?
My Coach is there to show that we are not robotic and we are breakable athletes as well as not just being out of a mould. But it is also there for children to interact with athletes.
- London 2012 is two years away you’re halfway through your preparation so how is it going?
It’s going absolutely fantastic, this season did start off a little bit shaky because I had a year off with injury last year, but everything is now going in the right direction and I’m going to sit down after the BMX Worlds in July and start discussing track cycling and how I can compete in both track and BMX in 2012. There is a lot of planning still to be done but I think I can definitely make it in London in two disciplines.
- So what does your training regime include and how will your training change as you move into the second two years and as the Olympics draws closer?
I train six days a week normally twice a day, sometimes it can be full time but generally that’s how much I train. Before the Olympics it will pretty much be the same because each year we replicate and then sit down at the end of the year and have debrief on how it went and what we could change to make it better.
So each year is pretty much the same but we do just tweak things slightly to get the best out of ourselves each year.
So on the run up to the Olympics it will pretty much be what I’m doing now but we will really look at the key races to hit hard and what will be the ones to maybe train through.
- 2008 was the first time that BMX had been included in the Olympics so how did you find that and how was your whole Beijing experience when you look back on it now?
My Beijing experience wasn’t how I wanted it to go but looking back at it now I guess it was one of the things that happened to me, just for mental toughness as nothing can ever compare to the pressure I put on myself going into Beijing.
So that sets me up in great stead for London what else can be chucked at me that was chucked at me in Beijing? So it was kind of a good thing because the biggest Olympic Games in my lifetime are going to be in London so what happened to me in Beijing is really going to help with that.
- That leads me into my next question really the final in 2008 didn’t go as you had hoped so what did you take away from that experience that is going to help in two years time?
From that final I just took on board a lot of things, mainly the expectation that I put on myself and that others put on me, at the end of the day you still go home and your family and friends are still there and nothing really changes.
So it’s just to really enjoy the Olympic Games because I don’t think that I let myself enjoy Beijing and my experience there and going into London I really want to relish every opportunity that is given to me. So I’m going to go to the next Olympics and really enjoy it and perform the best that I can perform.
- And how did you get into the sport of BMX in the first place?
My uncle got me involved in cycling because his two children had got into the sport when I was about ten. He used to go down to the BMX track at the time and he asked me if I wanted to go along, at that time I was always doing different sports and trying new things, so I went down to see what it was all about and got hooked from there.
- As well as BMX you also race on the track so how do they compare?
I suppose they are two completely different sports and different disciplines, but I just say that it’s all peddling, I train to fast in a straight line and that crosses over to track cycling and to BMX and they go hand in hand and help each other. Track cycling is predominately a strength based sport while BMX is all based around high leg speed so they both help each other and are a good match.
by Helen Earnshaw
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