South African track star Jean Spies has been invited to train at the UCI World Cycling Centre in Switzerland to prepare for the Olympic Games next year, an opportunity he feels will improve his competitive chances at the Games.
Jean Spies has been invited to train at the UCI World Cycling Centre in Switzerland to prepare for the Olympic Games. Photo: Owen Lloyd
The Tokyo Olympics were due to take place between July 24 and August 9 but due to the Covid-19 pandemic were moved to next year – from July 23 to August 8.
“It is an incredible facility. It has everything an athlete would need with the best coaches and support in the world. What more could you ask for?
“I feel it will definitely improve my competitive chances at the Olympic Games,” said the 30-year-old, who is currently ranked 11th in the world for the 1km time-trial.
He felt the opportunity would even things out a bit for him compared to other riders.
“I’m now able to train in a similar environment to those countries that have an Olympic programme and structure in place.”
Spies said he had been trying to get into the UCI coaching and training centre in Aigle for three years.
“We managed to have a lucky break and get in. We are grateful to those who helped this process.
“I was supposed to be there from January until the start of the track racing at the Olympic Games, but because of the postponement of the Games we are expecting this also to be adjusted in due course.”
Spies’s main race is the keirin, so his training at the 200m indoor velodrome will be based on improvement in that discipline.
“With it being a 200m wooden track it means there are more left turns, but it is a great track. It is smoother than any of the tracks in SA.
“We can simulate the speeds and g-force according to top-level international racing a lot more – your body and bike handling is a lot different between 65 and 80km/h.”
Regarding the postponement of the Games, Spies felt there were both positive and negative consequences.
“On the up side, I feel I have more time to build my strength and speed to become faster.
“The negative is that it has added a year’s worth of financial issues that was not at the forefront of our planning. As you know I am self-funded and crowd-funded and this postponement makes this a whole lot more challenging.”
He said to overcome the negatives he had decided to try and use social media to his advantage and create a donate page on Facebook.
“We have been gathering funding for two years now and are grateful to all those who have supported us.
“This donate page, although we are asking for support [again], is to show people we are still 100 per cent committed to competing at the Games and competing well.”
Spies said he was taking this opportunity to go to the centre knowing he would have to look for funding to give him a fighting chance at the Olympics.
“The school roughly costs R40 000 a month, all inclusive. So to break things down into small chunks we are trying to raise enough every month. Thus our fundraiser will be a monthly thing.”
The Got it Global rider is currently in the United Kingdom and said he was lucky that ESP Fitness had come to his assistance with gym equipment for the lockdown period.
“I’m doing the best I can with what I have – the same as everyone in this situation.
“I just want to add that we’re grateful to all the key workers around the world for all their sacrifices. We appreciate them.”
