Ed Clancy: '˜I feared my cycling career was over'

Yorkshire’s most decorated active Olympian was reduced to a mere mortal last September when the simple task of lifting an empty suitcase left him with a prolapsed disc in his back.

Such was the excruciating pain, Clancy had to kneel at a table to eat a meal, rather than sit, and the only way he could travel in a car was by lying down on the back seat.

It left the two-time Olympic team pursuit champion fearing he would not be able to go to Rio this summer to try and win a third gold medal.

But 12 weeks after surgery he is back in London – venue of his gold and bronze double four years ago – hoping to prove his fitness and put the last six months behind him.

“The day after the Tour of Britain in September, I turned around to pick up a suitcase – there was nothing in it apart from a washbag; it wasn’t even heavy – and my back just went,” recalled Barnsley-born, Huddersfield-raised Clancy.

“You’re either born with it or you’re not. If you’ve got degenerative discs, it’s not like a ticking time bomb, but at some point, discs are going to prolapse.

“I went into surgery knowing my career could be over.

“The real issue is when the nerves that run down your back get squashed by the extruded material, and obviously you need the motor function of your legs to ride a bike for a living. That was the big concern. After the back surgery, I had two weeks of solid bed rest.

“Two more weeks were spent trying to walk, and then two of those weeks were spent riding a mountain bike, trying to get slowly down into a road bike position. My whole career was in doubt.

“We were on the top of a mountain in Tenerife, I couldn’t walk. I had foot drop – that’s what they call it – in my right leg because the nerve was so compromised.

“So when I came out of that operation and I could walk again, I was like, ‘Anything is a bonus. If I can ride a bike, great; if I can make a career out of riding a bike, even better’.”

The injury led to a lot of soul-searching for Clancy. Questions raged within him about his desire to go on.

A fourth Olympics in Tokyo in four years had always seemed the perfect exclamation point to his career, but that is now no longer the given it once was.

“I’m done after Tokyo anyway. If I can stretch it out another four years, great,” said Clancy, who among his many accolades has five world titles.

“That was the first question I had for my surgeon: ‘If this is going to be a reason that I can’t kick a football around with my kids, I’m done, I’m out of here’.But he seemed to think that if we managed the problem, we would be sound for another four years.”

Managing it he is, with back-strength work and massages twice a week. Clancy has also changed his riding position, with a lower saddle and higher handle bars.

“To be here 12 weeks after serious back surgery, I’m over the moon,” he said.

“It’s a different feel for me to other major events because you spend the year before dreaming about what result you are going to get. For me, anything is a bonus. I’m just happy to be riding my bike.

“I’m super-keen for Rio and if I can drag it out to Tokyo, I’ll do it. If not, I’ll have to get a proper job.”