Dame Laura Kenny has admitted that she 'just wanted to go home' before clinching the gold medal in the women's scratch race at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in London.
The 30-year-old struggled with a well-documented confidence crisis before and during the Games, where she firstly won bronze in the team pursuit event two days before a 13th-placed finish in the points race.
Kenny, who had won points gold in Glasgow in 2014, also had reservations about competing after witnessing a horror crash involving British rider Matt Walls during the men's scratch race, one day before competing for the title in her scratch event.
However, the five-time Olympic gold medallist - who holds the honour of being Great Britain's most successful female Olympian of all time - stormed to the Commonwealth title in front of the home crowd at the Lee Valley VeloPark.
Speaking to Sports Mole about her emotionally-charged gold in London, Kenny hailed the influence of her mother Glenda Trott after admitting that "not a single part" of her wanted to race that day.
"I think having my mum there was massive. They [my family] travel wherever pretty much, I just went home after that points race and thought 'I just don't know what I'm doing. I don't know why I came. I'm not sure why I signed up to it'," Kenny said.
© Reuters
"But when you break it down, of course I signed up to it! It was in the London velodrome and I was always going to be a part of it. As an athlete, day in day out we put ourselves through it, there's so many things that go on in the background.
"We are people too, we're not just the athletes that people see on TV. It took me being really open and honest about how I was feeling to realise that I did want to be there and I did want to step up.
"Initially I was like 'I don't want to do the scratch race, I just want to go home'. There wasn't a single part of me after that points race that wanted to race the following day, I just wanted out. But I just spoke to my mum and she said to me 'Go out there tomorrow as if it's your last bike race, maybe it is your last but there's no point going home now. You know you're good enough'.
"It was just realising that I did still want to be a part of it. I knew I'd train really hard, every session had been a slog, but I'd done it! It just meant that I hadn't necessarily enjoyed them, but I had the fitness and I had the performance in there, I just had to piece it together on the day."
Kenny spoke to Sports Mole in partnership with the Dried Fruit Alliance (DFA), aiming to raise awareness of eating five portions of fruit and vegetables per day.
After learning that 95% of people are not getting their five a day, Kenny admitted that she has often been guilty of failing to hit that goal and is keen to reverse the "alarming" trend for the benefit of her son Albie.
© DFA/Laura Kenny
"The Dried Fruit Alliance have actually done a lot of research on how many people actually have their five a day and the statistics for me were quite alarming. What made it almost worse for me was that 95% of adults aren't taking their five a day and I think I'm one of them," Kenny added.
"Even reading it, 95%, that's a huge proportion of the population, for me to sit there and go 'Not only am I one of them, I think Albie is also one of them'. It was a real wake-up call for me and it became really important for us to kickstart it.
"I would say between 2012 and 2016 the biggest thing that changed was my diet. Since having Albie it took a backseat, as I was starting to think more about sleep, because when you've got a little one he's not sleeping very well and I was almost getting more obsessed with that than I was my nutrition."
When asked if she felt that she could have achieved even more with consistent five-a-day habits, Kenny added: "In terms of cycling, I'm not going to sit here and say I would have been better, because you just don't know, and there's a whole host of things that I can change as an athlete.
"If I'd just done a few more sessions maybe, if I'd just rested more or if I did have more sleep! When it comes to everyday people, I do think eating the right foods at the right times is hugely important and can have massive health benefits."
As well as winning five Olympic golds - cementing her position as the most successful female cyclist of all time - Kenny also has seven world titles and 14 European gold medals to her name during her illustrious career.
Dame Laura Kenny is taking part in the #TwoBeforeTenChallenge to raise awareness of the health benefits of dried fruit. 95% of us are not getting our five a day, the research also shows that if you start the day the right way – with a breakfast containing two of your five a day – then you are statistically more likely to hit your recommended daily intake. For more information on the campaign head to the @EatMoreDriedFruit Instagram page.
