Georgia Baker will be lining up for her third Olympic Games in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome near Paris with some memories from the once-every-four-year battle she'd perhaps rather forget. Still, the valuable experience she has gathered along the way could make this one a Games to remember.
It has not been an easy path for the Tasmanian through her Olympic journey, or cycling career for that matter, but the tenacity that has seen her overcome every obstacle and head toward another Olympic Games is also what could help deliver the dreamed of outcome in Paris.
“That’s what I’m hoping for, third time is a charm," Baker told reporters, including Cyclingnews, on a virtual pre-Olympic Games media conference. "I think I’ve learnt lots as well. I think I was only 20/21 years old when I was an athlete at Rio, and I’ve definitely changed as a person, and also as a cyclist, and I think I’ve definitely learnt something big from each Olympic Games so I’m hoping that this time around it will all fall into place.
"I feel a lot more relaxed, and it just feels a little bit different this time around, which is a nice feeling, not unsettled in a way .. I'm hoping for a really good Olympics, a positive one.”
At her first Games, not only was Baker a young first-time Olympian, but she'd had the toughest of run-ins, losing her father suddenly in 2015 just as crucial steps along the way to Olympic selection were unfolding. Somehow after that she found a way to rally, driven by the knowledge that it was what he would have wanted, but after forging through and making it to Rio in 2016, once she was there things there didn't go to plan.
The bulk of the Team Pursuit squad, including Baker, crashed badly in training two days out from the competition, leaving the then-world champions and gold medal favourites having to forge on through the injuries. They ended up fifth.
Her path to Tokyo wasn't a lot easier, between dealing with the delayed grieving process of losing her father, processing the disappointment of that crucial pre-Olympics training crash and then having to undergo heart surgery for Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) in 2017.
Then, once finally at the Tokyo COVID-19 delayed Olympic Games, the Australian team pursuit squad – who had missed international competition in the run-up due to strict rules to manage the pandemic in the nation – had a disappointing qualifying and again finished fifth, while for the Madison it was seventh. Baker said at the time she walked away from Tokyo 'a little unsatisfied'.
Team Pursuit and Madison the key
The run into Paris hasn't all been smooth sailing, with a short break off the bike again in the 2023 season for another small surgery following some irregular heartbeats, but overall the run towards Paris has been quite different.
For a start, Baker has altered direction, joining Liv-AlUla-Jayco on the road in 2022 but still keeping her track dreams going. At the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, that combination yielded a considerable return, with Baker walking away with three gold medals as she claimed the women's road race, the points race on the track, and—along with her teammates—gold in the team pursuit.
“We had a great ride in Birmingham, and everyone reflects on that time as well within the team, particularly in the women’s group, where we felt like everyone was just really on their A-game," said Baker. "We have taken on a lot of learnings from that. We are hoping to have a similar outcome; that would be amazing."
"It was just one of those days where everyone was feeling really good and everyone could execute and it is hard particularly in a team pursuit to get five girls, four girls flying all on the same day. We know we can do it; we know we have the strength there, and it's just about making sure it happens on an extraordinary day.”
To that aim, the Australian track team – which for the women's endurance events includes Baker, Alexandra Manly, Maeve Plouffe, Sophie Edwards and Chloe Moran – settled in at a Portugal camp in the run-up to the Olympics. Baker and Manly had also tested the waters at the Belgian Open Track meeting at the end of June – a well-timed event that Baker said helped them "see some slight things that we need to pick up on or slight changes that we need to work on and also our strengths".
Baker will be lining up for three events on the track at the Paris Olympic Games from Tuesday, August 6 to Sunday, August 11, first the Team Pursuit, then the Madison with Manly and finally the Omnium. The priority events for Baker are clearly Tuesday and Wednesday's Team Pursuit and Friday's Madison, where she will be pairing up with close friend as well as long-time track and road teammate Manly, who also races for Liv-AlUla-Jayco.
The pair won silver in the event at the 2023 Glasgow World Championships behind the pairing of Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker for Great Britain. However, Archibald, who also won gold in the Madison in Tokyo, broke her leg and tore ligaments in a freak garden accident in June, leaving Barker to have to find a new partner in Neah Evans.
"It’s super unfortunate for Katie," said Baker. "I do really feel for her and the team - you want everyone to be able to rock up to the Olympics on the best form they have and then the best wins, but looking at the field now with Katie removed it does change a lot of things.
"The way she races in particular in something like the Omnium and in the Madison, she has a real particular style and she is very strong so it does change it a little bit," said Baker, adding, that however the combination of Evans and Barker for Great Britain were "a super strong team" so that hadn't changed.
The coming days, however, will reveal if the now-experienced pairing of Manly and Baker could be even stronger.
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