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Petch overtakes her idol to compete at Tokyo

Ian Anderson

Rebecca Petch has taken the long track to get to the Tokyo Olympics – and is now prepared to compete on one too.

The 23-year-old from Te Awamutu was named yesterday as New Zealand’s sole BMX rider for the Tokyo Olympics, heading off London 2012 silver medallist Sarah Walker for the women’s event.

Petch said it’s been a long five years to complete her goal of competing at an Olympic Games, but her experiences along the way mean she won’t be surprised by what she’ll face next month.

‘‘We did a race over in Tokyo at the end of 2019, and it was a bit of a shock to see that the track was about 10 to 15 seconds longer than what we’re used to,’’ Petch said.

Training has been Petch’s chief existence since early 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began to play havoc with sport worldwide. ‘‘I don’t know what to expect over there, neither do the other competitors. I’ve done all the training and everything seems to be going to plan, so I just need to put it into a race now.’’

There were two World Cups in Italy and Colombia last month, but Petch and Walker opted not to compete.

‘‘It was pretty hard for us to get

there, with quarantine [when] coming home and the risk of catching Covid and then potentially putting the Olympics at risk.’’

Which mean that the selection decision between Petch and Walker, who missed the 2016 Rio Olympics with a broken arm suffered in training earlier that year, became tougher than normal.

‘‘There wasn’t a lot in it,’’ said Petch, who made two World Cup semifinals early last year.

‘‘Our qualification system started at the end of 2019, so a lot of it rode on the races in January last year.

‘‘I guess I was lucky I made two semifinals and placed a little bit better. It’s pretty tough to go off something so far away, but I feel confident I’d done all I can to be the person going to Tokyo.’’

Petch has plenty of admiration for her rival, who was initially her inspiration.

‘‘I remember sitting in primary school watching the Beijing Olympics, with BMX in it for the first time. Watching Sarah on the screen was pretty cool and I was pretty inspired by that to one day want that to be me – it’s pretty surreal that it’s going to be me this time.’’

Competing against her idol took some getting used to.

‘‘That was pretty hard – it almost became a little weird when I was competing against her and then beating her . . . The more I got to know her as a friend and a competitor the easier it became.’’

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2021-06-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282256668449455

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