Ulmer had a ‘wicked thing’ going

If Sarah Ulmer had her way, the 2004 Olympic gold medal win in Athens may never have happened.

A year earlier Ulmer thought her career had peaked and she contemplated ending her highly successful track cycling career.

Fortunately, her partner and coach, Brendon Cameron, convinced her otherwise.

That decision saw Ulmer dominate the sport in 2004, taking the 3000m individual pursuit world record and ripping it up, repeatedly, on the way to Olympic gold.

It was late in 2003 when Ulmer thought she’d peaked.

She’d won gold medals in the individual pursuit at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games, as well as a silver in the points race in 1998 and silver in the IP in 1994.

Her best effort at the world championships at that time had been a bronze medal in the points race in 1999, and at 27, she thought it would be tough to get any better.

Cameron was on hand to convince her otherwise, and the most successful period of her career followed.

‘‘He’s the only reason I’m cycling now and he’s the only reason why I won tonight,’’ Ulmer said after winning gold in Athens.

‘‘We’ve just got a wicked thing going.’’

Throughout 2004, Ulmer started hitting form that saw her become a gold medal favourite for the Olympics, starting with the world championships in May.

Before even making the final of that event, Ulmer smashed the previous world record set by Dutch woman Leontien Zijlaard, clocking 3:30.604.

Every rider had sensed the record was about to be broken, and although Ulmer didn’t crack that time again in the final, she did claim the world championship gold medal.

By the time Ulmer arrived in Athens in August, she was set to take that time even lower.

It was the performance of her competitors that may have spurred her on.

Sitting next to the track waiting for her qualifying ride, Ulmer watched as Zijlaard and Australian Katie Mactier both went under her world record time, becoming the first riders to dip below 3:30. Their records didn’t last long. Ulmer blitzed the track to finish in 3:26.400, three seconds faster than her opponents, paving the way to the final against Mactier.

In the final she went quicker again, destroying Mactier with a ride of 3:24.537, meaning Ulmer took six seconds off the world record in the space of a few months.

Thank goodness for Brendon Cameron, then.

‘‘I though I’d done all I could,’’ Ulmer said of her mindset the year before Athens.

But when Cameron convinced her to keep at it, Ulmer was all in.

‘‘I thought, ‘Bugger it, I’ll give it a nudge, I’ll try something different’,’’ she said. ‘‘I said, ‘Right, tell me what to do’. I trust his judgment on everything, absolutely everything – mechanics, leg massages. He’s my travelling partner, psychologist, coach.’’