After winning gold and silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Jody Cundy missed five months of competition due to injury, but he was allowed to wear his dancing shoes for Dancing Miracles
Jody Cundy is returning to racing after the toughest Paralympic cycle of his career.
After winning gold and silver at Tokyo 2020, the eight-time Paralympic champion missed five months of competition due to injury.
The 45-year-old lost all energy and motivation, but he has since regained his strength, admitting that putting on his dancing shoes for Dancing Miracle was exactly the break he needed from the sport in the fall.
Condi, the 23-time world champion, is aiming for his eighth Paralympic appearance, in peak form as we approach Paris 2024.
"I'm very happy after winning the silver and gold medals and I'm looking forward to achieving that result," he said. Due to injuries and illness, I got into the bad habit of not doing anything for five months, even though I was motivated to return to training.
I lost my fitness, I got out of the norm and it was a very difficult process to find the form I had before the Tokyo Olympics. Every time I get older, everyone I race with gets younger and faster, and everything seems to be working against me, so the motivation is fluctuating all the time.
Strictly speaking, for the first time in my entire career, I took a break from cycling, walked away and did something completely different, which actually improved my fitness, balance, and mobility.
It's been a good mental break and hopefully I'll be back on track now and get to where I need to be." ”
Last summer, Kandi won the C4kg world title for the 14th time in a row at the World Championships in Glasgow and won the world silver medal in the C4-5 team sprint with Kadeena Cox and Jaco Van Gass.
The British squad heading into the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will depend on this year's performance at the British National Athletics Championships and the Rio Paralympic Track Cycling World Championships. With experience on and off the track, Condi hopes his newfound drive will propel him to his final Paralympic Games.
He added: "I've personally had some difficult times and all these little things have weakened my performance on the bike.
Cycling is pretty much the easiest thing to do – last year I made a post saying I was struggling after the National Championships and it was the worst performance I've ever done. I was at my lowest point, but I managed to cheer myself up in Glasgow and it seemed like I was back on track. ”
The veteran politician of British cycling, who swapped the pool for pedals after winning his previous three Paralympic titles, has no illusions about who he will play for in 2024.
"For the next six or seven months, my motivation is that I want to win for myself," he said. I've done a lot of things for coaches, friends and family in the past and I always felt like I owe someone something.
For this game, it's about me and I want to do everything I can.
If I really end here, I'll be happy to go out because I know I've given everything for the sport and it's all mine. ”
Candy is one of more than 1,000 athletes supported by a world-class programme funded by the UK National Lottery for Sport, which has given him full-time training, access to the world's best coaches and groundbreaking medical support.
The infusion of money after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics revolutionized Britain's success on the global stage, and as an athlete who lived through its impact before and after, Candy was acutely aware of the changes it made.
It seems like a long time ago since I first competed in the Olympics as a swimmer in Atlanta," he added. I can't imagine playing one or two more races, let alone preparing for my eighth, so it's a crazy prospect.
I've had a great career and it's really been thanks to the help of the National Lottery that has allowed me to stay where I am now. My best gold medal was the team sprint from Tokyo, which was a team event, if you have to say, it wasn't a perfect race, but it was a race where everything came together. ”
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