My Sporting Life is The i Paper’s peek behind the curtain at what drives sports stars to greatness. This week we speak to Dame Laura Kenny, Britain’s most successful female Olympian, about her career highs, injury hell and competitive date nights.
People thought I was mad to retire
Obviously it was March of the Olympic year. But it’s not just as easy as getting yourself fit. There is a whole other human side to it, right?
I’m so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had, because I haven’t had those post-retirement blues since, they helped fill the void immediately.
There’ll never be anything like London 2012
Well, I mean, unless Manchester decides to host it, because I heard that was possibly a rumour…
To have your first Olympic Games, to be as young as I was, to have it so close to where I grew up, and to win two gold medals, it was the stuff of dreams.
Not many people do that. I know I’m married to the other person to do that, but it doesn’t happen very often. That is always going to be the standout for me.
I’m more proud of going to Tokyo than winning a medal
I should never have told the media I wanted to be the first mum to win a gold medal [for British cycling] in my lifetime. That was stupid. I wish I hadn’t said that. It piled on the pressure. But in a way I’m glad I did because it gave me something to hold myself to account.
The journey to Tokyo was honestly mental. I broke my shoulder, broke my arm four weeks later, then Covid happened. The recovery was awful, I would argue almost harder than coming back from giving birth, because it was a different kind of pain. I underestimated how much pressure you put on your arms to ride a bike.
I was basically told for two months I probably wasn’t going to the Olympics. It felt like the most unsure period of my career. So that was definitely a low point.
I was at my lowest at my last Commonwealth Games
It was in Birmingham, but we had the cycling events in London. There was a lot going in our personal life. I wasn’t in the right headspace.
There was no way that I could be as honest as I wanted to be with coaches, because I didn’t want people to think that I wasn’t dedicated anymore. We didn’t perform that great. I finished second to last in that points race.
I felt useless, and then stepping up the next day and winning, I honestly don’t know how I did that.
Jason will say I’m a very competitive person
I won’t let him beat me at Scrabble. I won’t let him beat me at Monopoly. I try my best to make sure he doesn’t get all the good properties.
So our date nights can be quite competitive, yeah. But they are few and far between at the minute, to be honest, with a 10-month-old baby.
Though we did go to the opera the other day, for my Christmas present. It was so random! But I am competitive, yeah, not going to lie.
I don’t mind making a fool of myself
Scruffts [the Crufts equivalent for crossbreeds] is an amazing category, because most of those dogs have done something for their owners, whether they’ve woken them up when there’s a house fire or something.
My two are pretty useless when it comes to that. One is literally deaf. He wouldn’t even stop someone coming in the house. The other one isn’t much better to be honest. They’re both just super chill.
The reason I would enter my dogs is because, if nothing else, they would literally make people laugh, and I’m all for that, I’m all for making people laugh.
Our dogs come everywhere with us
We took them on our honeymoon in a camper van around Europe. We weren’t leaving them behind. We stayed in a village called Flash in 2016, that was the last break before we went to the Olympics.
It was all snowy, it was lovely. But we did have a “Fenton” moment, when Sprolo saw a rabbit. When he sees a rabbit, he just goes, and Jason and I were running down the hill after him, calling his name, trying to get him back. He did eventually come back, but only because he couldn’t fit into the rabbit hole. We were both quite out of breath afterwards.
So yeah, the dogs basically dictated our honeymoon, and we went to some wonderful places. It was a really, really nice trip. I was all for the Maldives, but Jason convinced me otherwise, and I’m so glad he did, because the dogs genuinely did make our honeymoon.
Laura Kenny was speaking from Crufts, which is run by the Royal Kennel Club and a unique celebration of happy, healthy dogs and of the loving relationship that they enjoy with their owners. Crufts was held from 5-8 March 2025 at the NEC Birmingham, with all the action and highlights on Channel 4 and More4
