The Sunday Times - UK (2021-11-28)

14 November 28, 2021The Sunday Times

Sportswomen of the Year

Kenny, left, and

Archibald have

seven other

Olympic golds

between them

YIN AND

YANG GOT

THE GOLD

Rebecca Myers on

Laura Kenny and Katie

Archibald’s ride into

history in the women’s

madison in Tokyo

ALEX BROADWAY

TEAM OF THE YEAR

gold at three consecutive Games.

Speaking as they won the public vote

to be crowned the Sky Sports Team of

the Year, Archibald, who became

world champion in the event in 2018

before triumphing in Tokyo, said she

did not plan to stop there and was

already focusing on Paris 2024.

“This event was new in Tokyo,

which is part of what makes it so spe-

cial, that we have put our name on the

first page of this new history book,”

the 27-year-old said. “But I want to be

there on page two, as well.”

Kenny, who spoke earlier in the

‘We put our name on

the first page of the

history book for this

event. I want to be

on page two as well’

year about contemplating quitting the

sport, revealed during the awards cer-

emony that she had returned to

“actual training” last week for the first

time since Tokyo and that she had

drawn up a plan with her coaching

team, aiming towards Paris. “I went

out, I enjoyed it, I froze,” the 29-year-

old said. “It is the start now of a three-

year cycle.”

Despite the seven other Olympic

medals and countless world champi-

onship medals between them, both

women said in Tokyo that they had

never wanted to win a race more than

the madison. Kenny also said after the

event that she had never felt more

confident about a plan, and never

more in control during a race.

The credit for that confidence goes

to Monica Greenwood, the endurance

coach who took up her role in Decem-

ber last year and trained the pair for

the event. Joking that she might be

revealing a “big secret”, Kenny

explained that Greenwood was mar-

ried to Ben, the coach of the men’s

under-23 team at British Cycling, and

that she and Archibald had worked

with the male cyclists to train for the

event. In Tokyo, she thanked the men

they trained with, saying: “Without

them, we couldn’t have run it.”

Kenny also paid tribute to Archi-

bald, one of the most successful riders

of the present generation in her own

right, for being like a sister. “We both

bring different aspects to the race,”

she said. “Katie loves a spreadsheet

and she would fire spreadsheets at me

all the time. I would say that, on the

track, I just follow what Katie tells me

to do. I’m very confident in my own

ability but, in a madison, it takes

someone to steer the pairing and

that’s what Katie did.

“When you have a yin and a yang it

works really well... there was never a

time in the race where I thought, ‘No, I

don’t want to do that,’ because... I

just absolutely trusted anything that

Katie was doing.” As the pile-up dur-

ing their race showed, no amount of

planning can guarantee success, and

so much is down to sheer nerve on

the day. “We worked so hard for one

bike race,” Kenny said. “You’re wait-

ing for the perfect day. If that one day

doesn’t go well, everything is gone.

But, for us, everything came together.

You’d never say it was a perfect race

... but it was pretty damn good.”

Chelsea Women FC; England

Netball; Europe’s Solheim

Cup team (golf); Hannah Mills

and Eilidh McIntyre (sailing);

Laura Kenny and Katie

Archibald (cycling); Oval

Invincibles (cricket)

SKY SPORTS TEAM OF THE YEAR

SHORTLIST

N

o one had ever watched an

Olympic women’s madison

race before Tokyo 2020.

After it finished, many

thought they would never

see one like it again.

Laura Kenny and Katie

Archibald delivered what

was described as a “masterclass” in

this highly tactical, often chaotic, dis-

cipline, winning ten out of the 12

sprints and taking gold with a score

that was higher than the silver and

bronze efforts combined. It was the

kind of stunning dominance that is

rarely seen and it secured their names

in the history books under more than

one heading.

As a partnership, they became the

first women to ever win that medal; as

an individual, Kenny became the

most decorated female Olympic

cyclist of all time, the most decorated

female British Olympian of all time,

and the first British woman to win

of their bodies,

whether ensuring

teenagers have access

to better-fitting sports

bras, new mothers

have access to pelvic

floor rehabilitation, or

that women have

support through the

menopause. With this

information, she

believes barriers that

stop women taking

part in sport and

exercise can be broken

down. The British

swimmer and founder

of the Black Swimming

Association Alice

Dearing, co-founder of

the Women’s Sport

Collective Sue Anstiss,

and former

chairwoman of the

Women’s Sport

Foundation Anita

White, were also

shortlisted.

women and to educate

the sector about the

female body. In 2018,

she co-founded The

Well HQ with Baz

Moffat, a former GB

rower and coach, and

Dr Bella Smith, an NHS

GP, to take this

message to more

women, athletes and

organisations around

the country. Ross said it

was “wonderful” to win

the award. “It really just

validates what we are

doing,” she said.

Ross is passionate

about giving women a

better understanding

Sue Anstiss; Alice

Dearing; Dr Emma

Ross; Anita White

CHANGEMAKER AWARD

SHORTLIST

Court said she loves

“everything” about

coaching. “I love to see

the tears, I love to see

the happiness, to see

when they are just in

their element,” she

said. “I do it on the

basis that I have the

ups and the downs

with them. It makes

everything worthwhile

• to see young people
  progress in life.”
  It is fantastic for
  young people in the
  area too, who benefit
  not only from the
  wisdom of an
  Olympian but from
  the kindness that
  Court imparts. She
  joked that it would
  be Christmas come
  early for her and her
  athletes: “They will
  scream [when they find
  out], I know it.”

Dr Emma Ross has won

the inaugural

Changemaker award at

the Sunday Times

Sportswomen of the

Year awards in

association with Sky

Sports. The accolade,

decided by public vote,

recognises women

who are working to

create positive change

in sport.

Ross, the former

head of physiology for

the English Institute of

Sport, has worked with

elite athletes, top

coaches, head

teachers and school

girls to make sport a

better environment for

Year awards, after a

public vote for her

category. “Oh my

goodness, this is

absolutely amazing,”

she gasped. “In my

wildest dreams, I never

thought something like

this would happen.”

Court, whose

primary job is as a

behaviour and

inclusion manager,

works with young

athletes several nights

a week in Birmingham.

Clova Court has

competed at the

highest levels of sport,

performing at the 1992

Olympic Games. Since

retiring as an athlete,

however, she has

worked in relative

anonymity, with little

recognition for her

second career: a

voluntary athletics

coach who inspires

young people.

Court, 61, was

stunned, then, to be

told that she had won

the Grassroots award

at the Sunday Times

Sportswomen of the

GRASSROOTS

SPORTSWOMAN

OF THE YEAR

Betty Codona

(basketball); Clova

Court (athletics);

Hasina Rahman

(martial arts);

Salma Bi (cricket)

GRASSROOTS

SPORTSWOMAN

SHORTLIST

Force for

change:

winner Dr

Emma Ross

CHANGEMAKER

AWARD

Rebecca Myers

Court, 61, coaches

young athletes