Lara Gillespie has emerged from the Olympic cycle as a top tier international elite track rider, having really found her feet at the highest level over the last 12 to 18 months. Once she put illness and injury behind her, she began the process of turning junior and U23 success into an elite reputation and hasn't looked back since.
That process was formally launched just over a year ago when she won U23 titles at the Europeans in Portugal. And in the build up to the Olympic Games, she was part of the team pursuit line-up that made qualifying for Paris look easy.
There has followed significant success on the road, a new contract - her first at World Tour level - with UAE Team ADQ. And now she has her first Olympics Games in the bag; 9th in the team pursuit, smashing the Irish record on the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome, 11th in the madison and placing 10th in the omnium. Still, it was a question of what might have been when the biggest show on earth rolled to a close for her yesterday.
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“I am quite disappointed to be honest. I was hoping for a top five result here but I am proud of how I raced. I was brave. I took chances. I gave everything there," she said of getting to within three points of the podium places in the final race, of four in the omnium, only to fade as some illness kicked it.
"The last few laps, I was in so much pain. I had a really bad pain in my stomach. I really gave everything to put my best foot forward,” also pointing to her 15th place in the scratch race, the first event of the four, as having held her back.
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“I made a big mistake at the start by getting such an average result in the scratch race. But there’s lots to improve on, lots of positives and negatives. I’m looking forward to learning from it.
“I think everyone here, except maybe four girls, have medals at World Championships, European Championships and Olympics so it’s really cool to be a part of it and I can do better in four years.”
Gillespie also made history at the Games by becoming the first Irish cyclist to win a race at any Olympics when she gained a lap, and took sprint points, to claim victory in the tempo race in the omnium.
Having been on the Irish track cycling team with Kelly Murphy, Alice Sharpe, Mia Griffin and Erin Creighton as reserve, Gillespie said it was a fantastic experience. She also believed Team Ireland, across the sports at the Games, had made great strides.
“It’s been a really good learning experience and just phenomenal seeing all the other athletes in other sports doing well. Ireland is a small nation but we’re doing everyone so proud and it’s really cool to be a part of it. I’m excited for more to be sure.”
