Olympics: Too soon to focus on London, says Shanks

Alison Shanks was still playing netball four years ago when she got up in the early hours of the morning to watch Sarah Ulmer win a gold medal at the Athens Olympics.

"At that time I couldn't even imagine that I would be racing in the same event at the next Olympic Games in Beijing," Shanks told the Otago Daily Times when she arrived back at the Dunedin airport to be greeted by her family yesterday.

She exceeded expectations when finishing fourth in the 3000m individual pursuit in a time of 3min 32.478sec, a personal best by 3sec.

Her long-term target is the London Olympics in 2012 but there are significant events like the World Cup, Commonwealth Games and world championships before that.

"There is more to come. I'm not hanging up the bike yet," Shanks said.

"London is a long way off and a lot can happen in four years. I wasn't even riding a bike four years ago.

"At this stage I'm not focusing directly on London. It would be too mentally draining to completely focus on something four years down the track."

It was a weary Shanks who returned home after a 20hr flight from Beijing after spending nearly four months overseas"It's great to be home and see Mum and Dad and the family," she said.

She will have a complete break off the bike for a month and then start building up for the world championships in March.

"I will still go to the gym and do some running," Shanks said.

"It will give me time to catch up with friends and family."

Shanks has been on a strict diet as she built up for the Olympics over the last 12 months.

But she enjoyed eating the free Beijing pies after finishing racing.

"It's nice to be able to indulge a bit in the finer things of life," she said.

"I will enjoy Mum's baking and a few fine cheeses and am looking forward to having a few glasses of red wine with Dad."

It will be a carefree month for Shanks and there will be little planning done for the next assignment with her coach, Craig Palmer.

"Craig wants it to be pretty cruisey to give me a great break," Shanks said.

"He is leaving it to me to decide when I want to get back on the bike.

"It is important for me to have the mental freshness when I get back on the bike. It's been a long and very intense campaign."

Finishing fourth was an outstanding performance by Shanks who was ranked seventh going into the Olympics and finished eighth at this year's world championships at Manchester.

Was she pleased?"Definitely," Shanks said.

"I exceeded my own and Craig's expectations. At the time I was disappointed to get fourth. When you are riding for a medal there is always that little pang of disappointment.

"But when I look at the whole campaign I was really ecstatic to get fourth.

"The last 12 months have been focused on building up for that one race. Training became more specific."

Most competitors at the Olympics have done the training.

The medallists were those who were mentally tough enough to take the pressure and ignore the hype.

"Mental toughness plays a huge role at the Olympics," Shanks said.

"I was conscious of people saying that it takes one Olympics to be able to perform well."

Shanks took the initiative and spoke to Ulmer and Hamish Carter, who both won gold medals at Athens in 2004.

"I learned from their experiences," she said.

"They said that at the end of the day it's just another race.

"I went into the Olympics with a very simple attitude. It was the same velodrome that I had raced on at the World Cup and the race was the same 12 laps of any velodrome I'd trained on.

"The track team was a tight unit in the build-up. We didn't get distracted or overawed by the enormity of the Olympic Games."

Palmer, Shanks' partner and coach, returned home after helping the track team achieve its best ever result at an Olympic Games.

He is also the coach of Hayden Roulston who won a silver and bronze medal at Beijing to double New Zealand cycling's haul at all Olympic Games.

"Our medal tally for cycling before Beijing was two medals - gold to Sarah Ulmer [2004] and bronze to Gary Anderson [1992]," Palmer said.

"We doubled that at one Olympics."