Five-time Olympic champion Kenny targets fourth Games

Great Britain’s most successful female Olympic athlete Dame Laura Kenny is targeting a fourth Games in Paris next year.

She has won five gold medals and a silver across three Olympic Games at London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

“I hope both children see their mum as someone who was determined to make both things work,” said 31-year-old Kenny.

British Cycling performance director Stephen Park has previously suggested the Paris Games, which start in July 2024, would be too soon for Kenny after she gave birth to her second son Monty in July.

“I would hate to be sat here thinking, ‘well, I never even gave it a go to see if I could make it’,” said Kenny, who gave birth to her first child Albie in 2017.

“They will never have the burden of thinking, ‘oh, mum had me and then ended her career’. Because I didn’t. I carried on; I made it work.

“I hope they look back and can see that, and see that from the day they were born, they were part of the journey.

“The two different comebacks between Albie and Monty have been so different. With Albie I came back feeling like I had a point to prove, that you could be a mum and be an Olympic champion all at the same time.

“I think this time, I’ve come back for me. I’ve come back because I love riding my bike and I cannot imagine it not being part of my life.”

Kenny, who is married to fellow cyclist Sir Jason Kenny, suffered a miscarriage in November 2021 and an ectopic pregnancy in January 2022.

“Having the ectopic was way worse than the miscarriage,” added Kenny, who was Britain’s flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Games.

“It all happened so fast. I went to hospital thinking I had severe Covid and left like ‘what the hell?’ having had a major operation when I didn’t know I was pregnant.

“It was all terrifying really. I struggled massively mentally after everything that we went through, and I’d say I probably wasn’t truly happy until I fell pregnant with Monty.”