Cycling: Keep it simple is couple's winning mantra

By DAVID LEGGAT in Athens



Sitting in a quiet corner of a little bar at the Olympic velodrome, a laidback Kiwi bloke nursed a beer and stared absent-mindedly at a television screen.

Brendon Cameron could have been forgiven for having his mind elsewhere. An hour earlier, a year's hard slog had paid off as his partner, Sarah Ulmer, won the Olympic 3000m individual pursuit gold medal.

And if you believe her, Cameron put that medal round her neck.

"He's the only reason I'm in cycling now; the only reason I won tonight. We've got a wicked thing going," she said.

Cameron, a 31-year-old double Olympic representative and bronze medal-winning Commonwealth Games track rider, helped to pick Ulmer up last year when, after finishing fourth at the world championships in Germany, she was on the point of chucking it in.

He dedicated himself to coaching her to the top.

There is no secret to their success, he reckons. Cameron says their race plan doesn't take a genius to unravel.

"We keep everything really basic," he said. "Break down the race into three groups, three kilos."

He stands trackside and shouts her position as she whizzes past.

So was he concerned at all when Ulmer was almost a second down after 1000m?

A pause, a sip, then: "I was always a little concerned in the last kilo. I thought she'd tie up, but I know [silver medallist] Katie Mactier does as well. I gave her as much information every lap as I could."

It was certainly enough as the old world mark, set by Ulmer in Melbourne three months ago, was overtaken for the ninth and final time in the space of 24 hours.

Cameron's work has caught national track coach Kurt Innes' eye.

"They had everything covered. I found this year I was really astounded at how much of a perfectionist she is. She's world-class allround."

So should Ulmer continue on the track and maybe eye Beijing in 2008?

"As long as she's happy and healthy I don't see any reason why she should stop," Innes said.

But for now, there's a short holiday planned and Ulmer's in no hurry to get back on the bike.

At 28, she is in her prime - the world's premier women's rider.

Consider that the woman she has supplanted, Dutch star Leontien Zijlaard van Moorsel, who brought the curtain down on a hugely successful career yesterday with a bronze, is 34. Three times in the last two days she has gone under Ulmer's old Melbourne mark.

There are no hurried decisions about to be made.

"I've just been thinking about this for the last year," Ulmer said. "We'll get back home, get our feet on the ground and have a think about it."

Ulmer isn't done with Athens yet. She lines up in the women's points race early on Thursday (NZ time).