Olympics: Shanaze Reade intending to savour the moment

BMX rider Reade, whose hopes of winning a medal at the 2008 Beijing Games ended when she crashed in the final, is heading to London 2012 as a firm believer in trying to treat Olympic races like any other.

That does not, however, mean she will be attempting to entirely shut out the magnitude of the occasion when her competition gets under way on 8 August.

“I still want to treat it like the Olympics,” Reade said. “When I went to Beijing I treated it as if it was something massive, like this do-or-die kind of thing. I want to get that balance right where I really appreciate that I am at an Olympic Games, but at the same time treat it like a normal race.

“If you add that element of being at a home Olympics, it gives that extra excitement to the race and I want to really enjoy the event.”

Something else the 23-year-old expects to provide a buzz in London will be watching her fellow cyclists in action before her. She is also glad to have extra preparation time after injuries.

“I need that time just because of where I was prior to the World Championships (held in Birmingham in May) - I had a massive crash and ended up in hospital,” Reade said.

“I had concussion, so I missed two weeks’ prep leading into the Worlds, and then I also crashed there and had a few cuts and scrapes. So I’ve needed this period – I couldn’t ask for anything more and I’m at the top of where I need to be. I also think it (the gap between the start of the Olympics and the BMX competition) is good because you get spurred on. I train with guys like Sir Chris Hoy and you are going to see how successful they have been and just feed off that.”