Tokyo won’t be my last Games - Kenny
LAURA Kenny says she and husband Jason will be around long after this year’s Tokyo Olympics.
The 28-year-old has four golds |to her name and could leapfrog both Bolton-born Jason and Sir Chris Hoy to become Britain’s most successful Olympian at the postponed Games this summer.
Kenny - set to take on the team pursuit, Madison and Omnium in Tokyo - became a mother in 2017 and feels she has many years left at the top of her sport.
“The postponement of the Games gave me the extra year I didn’t have because I gave birth to Albie,” said Kenny, who is working with Purplebricks to encourage the nation to get behind Team GB on their journey to Tokyo.
“That was a blessing in itself, and we’ll only have three years until the next one in Paris in 2024.
“That’s a short enough time to get your head around, especially with a Commonwealth Games in Birmingham stuck in the middle.
“Some people ask me if I’m going to retire after Tokyo. I’m like, woah, I’m 28!
“I just can’t imagine not racing my bike, it’s weird. Because it’s been in my life for so long, I can’t imagine not doing it.
“So retirement is definitely not on the cards. Whether I can keep this form, I don’t know, whether I can keep getting in the team is another matter.”
Jason, who can overtake Hoy’s haul with a medal of any colour this summer, came close to stepping away from the sport entirely after the 2016 Games.
The six-time Olympic champion didn’t return to racing after winning triple gold in Rio, instead taking a year off to spend with the family and young Albie.
But having seen him reinvigorated, Laura reckons you’ll have to tear Jason away from the track when it’s time for him to retire.
“Jason didn’t want to carry on for many reasons - not just falling out of love with it, but it was the monotony of turning up doing the same thing every day,” she said.
“He had the same coaching staff and felt stuck in the thinking he had to do it. Then we fell pregnant, he was just happy for a year and doing things we hadn’t done like going on holiday.
“You just saw a difference in him when he went back, you saw him light up and have much more of a relaxed approach. It wasn’t as stressed, it was just, OK, I’ll just go and train.
“He hasn’t even mentioned retirement this time, you’ll probably see him in Paris and maybe at the next one too!”
It looks like Kenny’s third Games will be vastly different to other two with the attendance of fans in Tokyo remaining uncertain.
She burst onto the scene at London 2012 as a fresh-faced 20-year-old to win double gold in the Omnium and team pursuit and did the same four years later.
Kenny still has fond memories of the atmosphere at London 2012, motivating her to continue training for Tokyo.
“A home crowd is like one big family, there to support you. These people don’t know you but they want you to win,” she said.
“I always dreamed of going to London, but I was 12 when it was announced we’d host it and I thought I didn’t have long enough. To be able to compete at a home Games with the home support was, as cliche as it sounds, a dream come true.”