Source : ABC NEWS
There is a fair list of attributes that Australians demand of their sporting heroes.
But none are as valued as sheer doggedness and perseverance.
The ability to continue to excel under pressure, with obstacles thrown at you left, right and centre, is held in the highest of regards by a sporting public desperate to see their athletes put it all on the line in pursuit of excellence.
That’s why Matt Glaetzer, who announced his retirement from track cycling earlier this week, should be held in the highest of regards.
Matt Glaetzer may be one of Australia’s most resilient of athletes. (Getty Images: Xinhua/Li Yibo)
“I want to sincerely thank each and every one of the people around me throughout my career for the support, guidance and belief you have shown me,” Glaetzer said in a statement earlier this week.
“As many would know, I have been working towards a new career as a firefighter and this year I have been fortunate to commence full-time employment in that role. With this transition, I’m formally announcing that I am retiring from the sport to which I have dedicated the past 15 years of my life.
“I am proud of what I have achieved and deeply grateful for the people who have been part of that journey. If, along the way, I have had any positive impact on you, then I consider my time in the sport a true success.”
That Glaetzer would go into a career as a firefighter should not surprise anyone.
Hitting speeds of close to 80km/h on a fixed-gear, brake-less track bike wearing little more than lycra to protect themselves, often in close-contact with five rival riders all fighting for the same piece of track, Glaetzer clearly doesn’t have a problem with putting himself in harm’s way.
Matt Glaetzer clearly isn’t afraid of putting himself in harm’s way. (Getty Images: Justin Setterfield)
But It’s not just on the track where his resolve has been tested.
“Matt was an exceptional sprinter and achieved many notable results,” Gracie Elvin, AusCycling Athlete Liaison and Alumni Club lead, said in a statement.
“[But] he was just as well known for his resilience, determination, and generous spirit.”
There was every chance that Glaetzer could have ended his stellar career for the national team as the nearly man of Australian cycling.
Yes, he was a 16-time international medal winner, with three world titles and five Commonwealth Games golds to his name.
But in the competition that really counts in the court of public opinion, the Olympic Games, his story was a devastating catalogue of near-misses.
Matthew Glaetzer’s first three Olympics always ended in heartbreak and pain. (Getty Images: Rob Carr)
Prior to the 2024 Olympics — which ended up being his final appearance on the boards in green and gold — Glaetzer had the unenviable record of finishing fourth four times at Olympic Games’ with one fifth place finish as well.
On debut in London he was part of the team sprint squad that finished fourth, a result that would repeat at the next three Games. Add in another fourth place in the individual sprint in Rio and then a fifth place in the keirin in Japan and you have all the ingredients you need for a career of heartbreak.
His five appearances in a medal final without the reward of an Olympic podium would have been enough to destroy most.
But Glaetzer is made of sterner stuff than most people — and he had to prove it most off the track.
In late 2019, Glaetzer was shockingly diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
His only symptom was a stiff neck that resisted treatment, with AusCycling officials urging him to get a scan to rule out any disk damage.
Instead, that scan revealed something far more serious.
Matt Glaetzer needed extra support in 2019 following his shock diagnosis. (Getty Images: Xinhua/Li Yibo)
When he got the call, he was in Sydney testing out new equipment that he hoped would get him over the line and finally help him achieve that elusive Olympic medal in Tokyo.
“It was pretty heavy to get the call,” Glaetzer said at the time in an interview with the Cancer Council.
“But I’m also incredibly thankful that the doctors caught it early and I was able to get onto it pretty quickly.”
That was in the November. In December he was back on the track, racing in World Cup events in Cambridge, New Zealand and Brisbane.
Incredibly, despite the cancer scare, he earned a bronze medal in the keirin in New Zealand and and silver and bronze in the sprint and keirin respectively on home soil the week after, earning valuable points to set him on course for another tilt at Olympic glory in Tokyo.
Although COVID put a halt to those Games, the year-long delay giving Glaetzer more time to recover, there would be more near misses there — fourth in the team sprint and fifth in the keirin.
Paris represented his last chance.
And boy, did he take it.
Matt Glaetzer finally got his Olympic medal moment in Paris. (Getty Images: Jared C. Tilton)
First, a superb team sprint alongside Matt Richardson and Leigh Hoffman managed to secure him a first ever Olympic medal, a bronze by beating out home-hopes France at the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
That win was achieved in part by Glaetzer’s bravery too, a gamble instigated by the South Australian to switch up the sprint order at the last minute by having him lead the team off the line, which ended up paying off for the Aussies.
“I’ve had so much heartbreak in Olympic finals,” Glaetzer said in Paris.
“Every Olympic final I’ve been in, it’s been been gut-wrenching. I’ve been working my whole elite career to try and do this.”
Then, the keirin, the race that ended up being Glaetzer’s last appearance in the green and gold.
A hugely eventful race saw Glaetzer, by his own admission, “Bradbury” a second bronze after Malaysia’s Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom caused a crash that spectacularly derailed Shinji Nakano and Jack Carlin’s hopes on the final bend, with Glaetzer miraculously avoiding the carnage to cross the line in third place.
“I had a lot of bad luck in my career,” Glaetzer said in Paris.
“I’ve had a lot to overcome and, Jesus, it’s good to finish with some good luck.”
