Laura Kenny opens up on retirement decision: ‘I always knew deep down’

Laura Kenny: Britain's most successful female Olympian retires from cyclingSource: BBC

Transcript

00:00 After lots of thought and consideration I have decided I'm going to retire from professional cycling.

00:06 After lots of thought and consideration I have decided I'm going to retire from professional cycling.

00:13 Big deal, yeah.

00:16 It has been one ride that I would not change, yeah.

00:21 I've just had an absolute blast but now is the time for me to hang that bike up.

00:27 I am so, so happy with my career and now I'm sat here knowing it's the right decision.

00:34 It almost feels like a relief being able to say it out loud.

00:36 I was just going to say, you seem relieved.

00:38 Yeah, I think because it's been in my head a little while.

00:41 Like, just the sacrifices of leaving your children and your family at home is really quite big.

00:47 And it was getting more and more that I was struggling to do that.

00:50 And the more people asked me what races I was doing, what training camps I was going on, I didn't want to go.

00:57 Ultimately, and I think that's what it came down to.

01:00 And I knew the minute I was getting those feelings, it started to tick in my head.

01:04 Like, is this the right thing?

01:06 Like, why are you still doing this if this is how you feel?

01:09 And then once I said to Jace, you know, I don't think I want to ride a bike anymore.

01:13 I started to feel relief then, to be totally honest.

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