Ulmer gives the credit to Brendon, her coach and partner

By EUGENE BINGHAM

An ecstatic Sarah Ulmer stopped smiling for just a moment yesterday to reveal how her partner and coach, Brendon Cameron, had pulled her back from the brink of retirement to put her on the path to Olympic gold.

Late last year she had lost her confidence after another fourth place at the world championships and was considering giving up cycling, she said. "I thought I'd done all I could."

But Cameron convinced her to stay on. He threw in his job to help her and they enlisted Christchurch-based Terry Gyde to set training programmes.

"I thought, 'Bugger it, I'll give it a nudge, I'll try something different'," the 28-year-old Ulmer recalled.

Talking about Cameron, she said: "Never before have I turned myself over to someone to basically do everything for me.

"I said, 'Right, tell me what to do'. I trust his judgment on everything, absolutely everything - mechanics, leg massages. He's my travelling partner, psychologist, coach."

The new approach worked and this year Ulmer dominated the world scene. Before yesterday's golden ride, she was hot favourite but still approached the race with the cool, calculated attitude and set routine she always adopts.

Waiting in the middle of the track, she warmed up listening to Herbs, switching to a faster beat as the race drew closer. Cameron was reluctant to reveal the last song she listened to. "I think that one might be a secret."

Whatever it was, it worked.

After winning, she rode over to family at trackside, including parents Gary and Nuala and brother Peter.

Asked to describe how she was feeling, she shrugged. "I can't describe it. There are no words to describe it."

At the medallists' press conference she had a quiet word with Leontien Zijlaard van Moorsel, the Dutch rider whose career had brought her four gold medals, a silver and a bronze, as silver medallist Australian Katie Mactier listened in.

Though it was widely known in the cycling world that the just-completed 3000m race would be van Moorsel's last, it was not until questions began that Ulmer realised she had ruined van Moorsel's farewell party.

The women pulled back from the microphones and talked. Ulmer squealed.

Then it was back to the questions.

Later, Ulmer revealed that van Moorsel had confided she was planning to have babies.

For Mactier, now that the racing was over, she was looking forward to catching up with Ulmer, her friend, for a beer. Would the Olympic champion be buying?

"You bet she will," said Mactier. "Don't worry about that."