Beth & Izzy Goodwin - mountain biking

Sisters Beth & Izzy Goodwin, 13 & 11, are mountain bikers from the UK. And yes, you guessed it, they’re reporting on mountain biking at the Olympics for us.

Here’s their report …

Evie Richards’ Olympic dream

An iconic superstar, Evie Richards achieved her dream in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics a few days ago and I am here to explain all about her commitment and how she led up to this well-known event.

What are the Olympics?

This human international event only happens every 4 years and every athlete trains a lot to lead up to this. If you were to win you would be awarded a gold medal and have the title for 4 solid years - the one and only Olympic champion of your sport. Did you know that the Olympics goes way way back to 776BC?  Originally it was for nonprofessional (amateur) Athletes but over the years its changed and in some sports, like mountain biking, you can be professional.

Evie’s dream 

Ever since Evie was in school, she has dreamed of going to the Olympics and at the time she was doing every sport she could except for mountain biking. So, she started and got better and better each day and got to go to the Olympics and accomplish her dream. The first time Evie ever rode a bike was when her sister was learning to ride one and every mile they got a lollipop; Evie said herself that they got a lot of lollipops that day because she was really good!

Evie didn’t think she would be going to the Olympics due to covid and so when she got the call to say that she was going her best friend cried, her auntie cried and her mum cried! As soon as she got on that plane to Tokyo, she could start to get excited - it was all a big relief. While she was away, the whole family had parties, had a load of tears, she said, and they were more excited than she was!

How she prepared

The last two years her coach has helped her with everything on the course, helping her to try her best and it obviously worked as she came home with pretty good results. Every day, while she was out there on her massive hotel balcony in Tokyo, she was on her turbo bike getting her legs ready. The days before her race Tom Pidcock, our only GB male mountain biker at the Olympics took gold on the same course.

To place as well as she did she had to train her absolute socks off - well done Evie - you did amazing.

How the women’s race compares to the men’s race

The women and men ride the same course and on the same obstacles.  In this particular race there was a massive rock they had to ride: the men had to jump it (but the message didn’t quite get around so a man fell off who could possibly have won it) and the women had a ramp if they wanted to roll it, but most of them jumped it any way.

How the race went 

The result of the race was a win for me. It was an all Swiss podium with Jolanda Neff taking the win who led for most of the race, making gap bigger each lap. Not far behind were Sina Frei and Linda Indergand fighting for second but in the end it came down to a sprint finish with Sina taking second and Linda taking third.

Winner Jolanda Neff - image courtesy of Jolanda Neff

How Evie did

Evie was the first British woman over that finish line and came home an astonishing seventh.  It was a good day for her team, Trek Factory Racing as her teammate Jolanda Neff won, with Evie in second and Anton Cooper having a pretty good result at the end.

Her opinion on the race

By the sounds of her Instagram captions she really enjoyed herself while she was out there as she posted three quotes saying `and that’s my dream come true I competed in the Olympics with the shortest shorts, most orange legs and the biggest smiles’,  and she has also put ‘pinch me I am dreaming’.

Why I like sport?

Evie Richards has really inspired me and my sister ever since we saw her in Germany in 2017 and still does . Me and my sister have been riding since I was 2 and she was 4 and that is also when we took off our stabilisers so thanks so much Evie you are the best as well as all of the other women in sport. Thank you.

By Isabelle Goodwin