THE OLYMPIC CYCLING KIT
When British athletes step on the Team Gb-branded British Airways flights to Tokyo this summer dressed in their smartest suits, below their feet in the luggage storage will be four suitcases of clothing for each athlete. “It’s ridiculous,”
laughs Hayles. “The amount of kit we get is stupid.” Cycling kit aside, what do riders have in their collections? “Ten T-shirts, 10 jackets, shorts, bucket hats, nice suits, jeans, just so much,” is Doull’s take on it. Hayles remembers Ben Sherman cufflinks, slacks and official watches, and even retro jackets and tracksuits, items he says “would be worth something to collectors but they’re better for a fancy dress party.”
It’s not a surprise to learn that most of the clothing is never worn.
“Most of my stuff is at my parents’ house, a lot of it in the packaging that will never get opened,” Doull says. “I’ve given some to friends and family, but I don’t want to sell them.”
Hayles’s wife Vicky Horner competed in the 1996 Olympics as a swimmer, and when they moved house last December, it wasn’t their medals that reminded them of their sporting achievements, but the unused kit: “Between the two of us we have kit from about eight Olympics and Commonwealth Games. It was hard moving all that from house to house.”