Highton’s road warrior
Gymnast inspired Gaudry’s fun, Games
THIS is the story of how a Highton schoolgirl was inspired to be an Olympian by a Romanian gymnast, then achieved the dream as a cyclist.
Tracey Watson was a student at Bellaire Primary School when — like many others — she was dazzled by Nadia Comaneci’s performances at successive Olympic Games in Montreal (1976) and Moscow (1980).
Twenty years later, she competed at successive Olympic Games herself as a road cyclist.
The second of those Olympics was on home soil in Sydney 20 years ago, after the cyclist had married and changed her name to Tracey Gaudry.
But cycling had not been her first love.
“For me it was gymnastics as a child,” Gaudry recalls.
“(As a kid) you dream about those superstars … (and) for me that was Nadia Comaneci.”
The Romanian wunderkind Comaneci was 14 when she competed at the Montreal Games.
She became the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect 10 by Olympic judges and won three of her five career gold medals in Canada.
“Once I got past my teenage years that dream was out the window,” Gaudry says.
“I didn’t actually start competing as a cyclist until 1993, which was after the Barcelona Olympics.
“(I was) quite a late starter. I was in my early 20s, and at that point I hadn’t even thought about Atlanta, let alone Sydney.”
She was lecturing at Deakin University when, after just three years on the bike, she became an Olympian, riding the road race at Atlanta.
By the time Sydney came around she was a seasoned pro at the peak of her career — the third-ranked women’s road cyclist in the world — and part of a home team that huge expectations upon it.
The 130km road race was held in the worst weather experienced at the Sydney Games with lightning and thunder threatening overhead.
Although medals and placings are awarded to individuals, the road race is, in practice, a team race.
Nations pin their hopes on one of their three cyclists winning a medal, while the other two make the ultimate sporting sacrifice so their compatriot can excel.
“You ride as a team so there is one winner,” Gaudry explains. “As a team you have to work on what is the best strategy and then what are possible tactics you’ll employ through the race.
“It’s chess on wheels.
“How do you play your cards? What are the moves you make? At what point do you sacrifice? How do you bank on that tactic being the winning tactic?”
Australia was represented at Sydney by Gaudry, Juanita
Feldhahn and world No. 1 road cyclist Anna Wilson.
With wild weather and crashes aplenty, they tried to split the field into smaller groups.
But it was a difficult race to manipulate.
It came down to a bunch sprint finish, and the Australians agreed, in that scenario,
Wilson should be the one going for gold.
The record books say Gaudry finished 23rd, but she rightly feels a share of Wilson’s fourth placing.
“We wanted a medal out of it. If you’re the person who wins the medal great but, most importantly, we wanted a medal for Australia,” she says.
“We performed well, however we didn’t win … we had that bittersweet experience; fourth is the first nonmedallist.
“So there was a period of being super proud of what we achieved but falling a little bit short of what we knew we were capable of.
“It’s a really difficult environment when you’re in the pinnacle of your career and all the eyes are on you to be super proud, but it’s actually also OK to be disappointed because we knew we were better than that.”
Gaudry also raced the timetrial alongside Wilson (fourth again) at Sydney, but, unwell and drained by the cruel conditions of the road race, did not meet her high expectations.
After a quick trip home to Geelong, she was in Europe preparing for the UCI Road Cycling Championships in Plouay, France.
Such is the life of a professional cyclist.
Gaudry went on later to become vice president of the UCI, and retains leadership roles with cycling’s governing body today.
She is the founding CEO of Respect Victoria — the lead organisation working to prevent violence in families and against women — and the mother of teenagers Emily, Ellen and Jack.
She remembers Sydney 2000 for its festive mood and the excitement her friends and family got from being on the sidelines during her races, but admits most of the frivolity was lost on her as she single-mindedly prepared with her teammates at their Wollongong training base.
“You had to temper your excitement about being a person at the Games versus being an athlete,” she explains.
“I was excited and proud for Australia, and wanted to absorb the excitement, but I also had a job to do.
“(But) to be in Australia at the opening ceremony with all of your Australian teammates across all different sports was quite an emotional experience to be a part of.
“Those moments where you were part of the bigger collective were pretty overwhelming because as a cyclist you were overseas, often living by yourself, racing in international teams with non-Australian people.”
I’m not counting the games; I will let that happ en around me. But it is a jo y to be able to pla y off in the majorit y of the years that I ha ve played.”
- JOEL SELWOOD