Australian cycling veteran Matthew Glaetzer is an Olympic medallist at his fourth and final Games, and few have had endured a tougher path to get there.
The 31-year-old, dubbed by many as cycling’s unluckiest man, has overcome injury, heartbreak and even thyroid cancer to finally have an Olympic medal draped around his neck.
If his thyroid cancer diagnosis, surgery and treatment in the two years before the Tokyo Olympics wasn’t enough, Glaetzer was then hit by a string of injuries.
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A torn calf, oblique complaint and bulging disc in his back later, and the Aussie sprinter was still as hungry as ever and managed to get himself on the Tokyo team.
But for a third Games in a row, a medal eluded him once again.
Despite his dominance as a three-time world champion and five-time Commonwealth Games medallist, the Olympic dream remained just that for so long.
He lost four bronze medal races from four attempts in the past three Olympics between individual and team sprints.
But refusing to let a career of near-misses define him, Glaetzer remained in the fight for Paris, where he finally achieved bronze in the team sprint alongside Leigh Hoffman and Matt Richardson.
“It was elation — I was so pumped when I saw that ‘three’ … on the scoreboard,” Glaetzer said after the race.
“It’s very special to finally win an Olympic medal. We were definitely aiming for better — we felt like we could have been in the gold (ride-off).”
In the lead-up to the Games, Glaetzer said that his wife Nikki helped ensure he did not make a rash decision on his career after Tokyo.
“I wouldn’t be here without her — I was actually pretty close to giving the sport away after Tokyo,” he said.
“For us to be a team together and figure out we have some unfinished business, to push to Paris, has been a feat.
“I’m pretty proud to be here.”
The Australian team sprinters recovered from a poor first round heat ride earlier on Tuesday night that cost them a shot at gold, switching all three riders positions and riding a time that was faster than the silver-medal winning British trio.
The Dutch broke their own world record in the final, becoming the first team to go under 41 seconds with their 40.949.
Britain clocked 41.814 and Australia silenced the parochial home crowd with 41.597 to easily beat France in their medal ride-off.
