Rebecca Henderson to mark her Olympics debut
Rebecca Henderson is all set to mark her Olympics debut at the women’s cross-country mountain bike race.
The cyclist had a busy season but has only rode at the under 23 category; she was delighted to find her name in the final Olympics squad.
"I knew I had put some really good results on the board, I knew that I should be selected, but it’s really difficult to know what the selectors are thinking”.
“It was a huge relief when I got the call. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t," she told Cyclingnews
"I think some of the Aussie girls found it difficult to deal with competing against me for the Olympic spot when we were not directly racing against each other in the World Cups," Henderson told Cyclingnews.
"But I feel that my performances were at a much higher level in the World Cups".
She started riding professionally at the age of 12 and was coached by an Australian male cyclist Dan McConnell and also took coaching lessons from Glenn Doney.
She was ranked 55th in the World Cup standings as of June 2012 and occupied the second overall spot at the U23 rankings.
Some of her career’s highlights include a 1st place finish at the U23 Australian Championships, U23 Oceania Championships and a seventh overall finish at the 2011 Under 23 MTB World Cup in Dalby Forest, England.
Henderson achieved the third overall position during the U23 UCI MTB World Cup round 5, second at the round4, 13th at the round 3 and claimed the third overall spot during the UCI MTB World Cup round 2.
The 20-year-is one of the four Canberra ready to represent Team Australia at the Olympic Games and her family is also expected to watch her perform at the biggest sporting event of the year in London.
Rebecca will be accompanied by Daniel McConnell at the mountain bike event of the game which will be Connell’s second Olympics participation
Henderson is optimistic to register some good performances at the coming race which will open the doors for her long-tem goal of competing in Rio in 2016.
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