Newly retired double world champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Alison Shanks was perhaps defined as much by her failures and disappointments as she was by her incredible success on the cycling track. Adrian Seconi reports.
We all remember the golden smile. The medals, the bouquets and the intoxicating and rapid transformation from representative netballer to world champion pursuiter and Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
But the real inspirational story is the account of how Alison Shanks was able to use every setback and disappointment to push herself further.
The 31-year-old announced her retirement from the sport yesterday, citing a hip injury as the major reason.
But in explaining her decision, it was clear she felt she could no longer give the sport 100% both mentally and physically. It was the right time to get out.
Her ride started about nine years earlier. Initially, cycling was just a way to keep fit and spend some time with her then boyfriend, 2004 scratch race world champion Greg Henderson.
Shanks was a netballer who had her heart set on a spot in the Silver Ferns. She made the New Zealand A team in 2004 and was hoping 2005 would be her breakthrough year.
As it turned out, it was, but not for the reasons she had planned. She was dropped from the Otago national championship team.
While completely devastated, Shanks had the fortitude to view it as an opportunity and told the Otago Daily Times she planned ''to pursue some different sporting avenue''.
Even back then she had a drive to be the best, and playing for the Otago B team did not fit in with those goals.
Having won Cycling Otago's 40km handicap race at Henley earlier in the year, she decided to trade her bib for a puncture repair kit.
After about a month of serious training, Shanks finished seventh in the national women's 20km road race and was third in the time trial.
The die was cast. Otago's golden girl was on her way.
The rest of the world took notice during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing when Shanks shocked everybody with a fourth-place finish. But it was not until the following year, when Shanks won the gold medal at the 2009 world championships in Poland, that she felt more than just a netballer who rode a bike.
''That was a bit of a surprise for me. I guess I hadn't really believed I could win until then. Winning that first world championship gave me the belief that, actually, I am good at this cycling gig.
''I kind of perceived myself back than as a netballer trying to ride a bike. From that moment on, I knew I was a cyclist. It really moved me on.''
The countdown to the 2012 Olympics probably started then. The nation, and certainly everybody in her home city, Dunedin, suddenly believed, too. Shanks appeared poised to follow in the shoes of Sarah Ulmer, who won gold in Athens in 2004.
But life had another curveball waiting. The individual pursuit was cut from the Olympic programme in December that year. There was to be no opportunity to win individual gold.
Shanks was bitterly disappointed and remains that way to this day. But as she did in 2005, she lifted herself from the canvas and refocused. Shanks rode at the London Olympics as part of the New Zealand pursuit team. The team finished outside of the medals.
We know now Shanks was managing a chronic hip injury. She had surgery in June in the hope she could defend the Commonwealth Games gold medal she won in India in 2010.
''In life, you are thrown challenges,'' Shanks said.
''Some times things are totally out of your control. You can stew over it and be gutted about it. But at the end of the day you just have to get over it and focus on the things that you can control.''
Shanks felt she could have won a spot in the Commonwealth Games team but did not want go to Glasgow if she could not get back up to the level required to win gold.
''Every time I've stepped out on that track, I know I've given it 100%. I've got to the point now where I know the performance is not going to be my best and so it is time to step away.''
Shanks said her career highlight had to be her gold-medal ride at the 2012 world championships in Melbourne.
''For me, it was the perfect race. And I had Mum and Dad and family in the stands and Craig [Palmer, her husband and coach] was calling me on the track.
''It was a pretty special day.''
The same competitive spirit which pushed her to the top in cycling is bound to serve her well in retirement. She plans to continue working with her sponsors and in her role as an Olympic ambassador with the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
She is building a house with her husband in Waikato, where the couple now live, and children are part of their future plans.
Alison Shanks: Queen of Otago sport
Cycling
• World champion, 3000m individual pursuit, Pruskow, 2009.
• World champion, 3000m individual pursuit, Melbourne, 2012.
• Second (2009) and third (2011) in team pursuit at world championships.
• Commonwealth Games gold medallist, 3000m individual pursuit, Delhi, 2010.
• Fourth in individual pursuit at Beijing Olympics, 2008.
• Fifth is team pursuit at London Olympics, 2012.
• World cup individual pursuit gold medallist, 2010 (twice) and 2011.
• World cup team pursuit gold medallist, 2010.
• Set New Zealand records in 3000m individual pusuit (3min 28.47 sec) and team pursuit (3min 19.759sec) in Invercargill in November 2011.
Netball
• Played 16 games for Otago Rebels, 2001-2005.
• Goal attack or wing attack.
• Selected for New Zealand A.
Basketball
• Played for Otago Breakers and Ajax club.
Background
Born: Dunedin, December 13, 1982.
Education: Tahuna Intermediate, Queen's High School, University of Otago.
Qualifications: Double degree in marketing (hons) and human nutrition.
Married to: Craig Palmer.
