CYCLING – TRACK: The term breakneck speed could have been invented for Anna Meares.
She famously did just that – broke her neck – crashing on the World Cup circuit in Los Angeles at a speed which would have had her facing a fine and demerit points if she was driving a car on a suburban street.
That was just seven months before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. But was a cracked C2 vertebra enough to stop her? No chance.
She underwent intensive rehabilitation and recovered at breakneck speed, too – quickly enough not only to compete at the Games but to claim silver in the sprint.
That sort of courage and determination has sustained her through an Olympic career which can now, officially, be termed incomparable.
Her bronze medal today in the Olympic Keirin event in Rio completed a feat that no other Australian can match – she is the only Aussie to win individual medals at four Olympics.
That’s a record none of the other greats have achieved – not Ian Thorpe or Dawn Fraser or Shane Gould, not Betty Cuthbert or Herb Elliott, not a soul since Australia's first Olympian Edwin Flack lined up at Athens in 1896.
By that measure, she stands alone.
Not that she seemed to have the faintest idea of her own achievement.
When told the news trackside moments after her ride, a breathless Meares replied: “Oh, you’re kidding. Really? Wow. Double whammy. I didn’t know that. That’s brilliant.”
But she knew exactly why she battled on to Rio instead of retiring on top of her sport after London 2012.
“If I did that I would have missed out on my 11th world title, I would have missed out on breaking the world record for the 500, I would have missed out on my sixth Olympic medal and I would have missed out on being the flag bearer for the Australia team,” she said.
Asked if records had ever driven her, she said: "No, just achieving, checking boxes, setting a goal, and trying to go after it and better myself every time. And believe me it’s really been hard and so challenging. Even in my own country I’ve had people come up and challenge me for positions in the team and I’ve had to work hard and earn my position and I’m proud that I’ve done that and I’m proud that I’ve come here again and delivered."
Her six Olympic medals put her up in the pantheon of all-time Aussie achievers, headed by Thorpe and Leisel Jones on nine.
But swimmers dominate that list.
Of those with six or more, notably she is one of only two non-swimmers – hurdler and sprinter Shirley de La Hunty is the other.
Meares, Australia's Olympic flagbearer for 2016, is no stranger to breaking records and today in Rio was no exception.
She also became became Australia’s most decorated Olympic cyclist, surpassing Brad McGee’s five medals.
The 32-year-old Queensland coal miner’s daughter went into the mining business herself, but concentrated on gold, silver and bronze.
Her haul now is two gold (500m time trial in Athens 2004 and sprint in London 2012), one silver (Beijing 2008 sprint) and three bronze (2004 sprint, 2012 team sprint and 2016 Keirin).
She also has eight Commonwealth Games medals, five of them gold, across four Games, and 11 World Championship medals.
All of that takes time. She may be famous for speed, but history will now salute her peerless staying power.
Doug Conway
olympics.com.au
