The one lesson I’ve learned from life
CyClist laura trott, 24, won two gold medals at the london Olympics in 2012 and is hotly tipped to repeat her achievement in Rio this month. she lives in Cheshire with her fiancé, fellow cyclist and Olympic gold medal winner, Jason Kenny.
Take inspiration from your mum’s struggles
To ACHIEVE something important you have to work really hard — but that’s not something I learned from cycling. It’s something I learned from my mum.
When my sister Emma was ten and I was eight, we were on a family holiday in the U.S. and mum, then a size 22, was told that she was too heavy to go in a cable car.
She vowed to the family that she was going to lose weight, so we all took up cycling. It wasn’t an easy journey for Mum, though. She was so grumpy and I remember lots of arguments between my parents. My sister and I hated having to live without chocolate bars and crisps.
It took 18 months of total commitment, but at the end of it she was an amazing size eight — Emma, Mum and I could all fit into one of her old skirts! It was this massive white thing and we just found it so hard to believe she’d ever worn it.
That lesson of working hard for what you want has stayed with me and I’ve applied it to my cycling.
of course, there’s natural talent involved, too. My sister and I both cycled, but it just seemed to come that little bit more easily to me.
There was a lot of rivalry between us when we were young because I was winning races almost straight away. I still remember winning my first cycle race aged eight — the prize money was 50p!
I’ve often been asked if being tipped to win olympic gold puts me under pressure during a race, but honestly, the moment I start racing, it’s just about me and the bike.
You don’t even care about the pain. It’s just you pushing to the end and if you throw up or collapse when you get there, then so be it.
After Rio, I’ll start training for Tokyo 2020 almost immediately. After that I might think about starting a family. Being a cyclist himself, my partner Jason understands I want to devote myself to the sport for a few years to come. Becoming a mum is in my plan, though — how could it not be when my own mother has been such an inspiration to me?
lauRa tROtt is an ambassador for DFs, the official homeware partner for team GB at the 2016 Olympics. the DFs Britannia sofa range, created for team GB HQ, is available now (dfs.co.uk).