CYCLING: They say good things come to those who wait.
That may just be the case for star track cyclist Amy Cure, especially if her golden Olympic dream in Rio is realised.
At 19 Cure made the Australian Team for the London 2012 Olympic Games but due to Australia’s depth in the team pursuit she did not get a ride.
That experience has given Cure the motivation to not only push for a spot on the team for Rio but go in with a chance of climbing onto the top step of the podium when all is said and done.
“I think in London I was still very young and as a child I always wanted to represent Australia at an Olympic Games,” Cure said.
“That was always my life ambition and I think that my attitude turned into being so focused on being one of those five riders that made the team.
“I have learnt a lot from London that I will take with myself into Rio.
“I will be going into Rio with a much different mindset. I want to not only make the team but to line up on that start line and hopefully one day call myself an Olympic Champion.
Since the 2012 Games Cure has cemented her spot on Australia’s track endurance team and at the start of the year much of her hard work paid off when she was a part of the Australian quartet that scorched the Team Pursuit world record at the World Championships in France.
“Breaking the world record this year was for sure the highlight of my career so far,” the 2015 Tasmanian Athlete of the Year continued.
“To be able to do it with your team in an Olympic event really is something special and will be a moment I will never forget as an athlete.”
After returning to training in September, Cure’s road to Rio heats up this weekend when she heads across the Tasman to compete at her first World Cup event of the year.
“I’m very excited to be heading to the World Cup in Cambridge, New Zealand.
“My aim for this World Cup event is to get a race with the girls and post a fast time. Obviously being reigning World Champions, we would love to win.”
The event will re-unite Cure with the formidable line-up of Annette Edmondson, Melissa Hoskins and Ashlee Ankudinoff as they look to continue their world record breaking form from earlier in the year.
Cure believes that the comradery between the group has propelled them to their recent success.
“We are all a very close group of girls, at the end of the day we train together, we eat together and a lot of the time we are roommates together so we know each other really well and get along so well.”
“We are very good at reading one another, knowing if one of us is having a bad day and we are always there to help out the other. That is for sure one of our biggest strengths this year.”
The team’s success will no doubt bring with it new challenges as they go from being the hunter to the hunted.
“Now we have the world record I think a lot of other teams will be focused on us.
“We have set a bench mark now for others, but most importantly for ourselves, everything we do now in training is done in hope of bettering ourselves as a team.
“There are many teams we will be keeping a close eye on, but like anything, we can only control what we do. Our true rivals are ourselves.
“We have set targets as where we would like to be as a team in our lead up to Rio and beating our world record is right up there.”
The Cambridge World Cup kicks off on Friday, December 4th and runs through to Sunday.
Cure will be in action in the Team Pursuit Qualifying rounds on the opening day of competition.
Check out Australia’s full team here>>>
Matt Bartolo
Olympics.com.au
