McCULLOCH Kaarle

General
BATTLING DEPRESSION
She was affected by depression in the period that followed the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Contributing factors such as an injury and the break up of her first long-term relationship led her to question what she wanted out of life. She was on medication for two months, and also spent 18 months working with a sports psychologist. "With the injury, the loss of my career and the break up, I felt like I had nothing left. I decided I had to be the one to change my life. It was up to me to form stronger relationships with my housemates, so I could have friends again. It was up to me to get back into studying PE teaching, so I had a sense of purpose in my life. It was up to me to spend more time with my family. I didn't want my life to be defined by cycling anymore." (athletesvoice.com.au, 13 May 2019)

OCCUPATION
She has worked as a sprint coach for the NSW Institute of Sport in Australia. "We need to find more girls and boys who are powerful and strong, with an ambition to represent their country in a sport that they love. I want my programme to teach them the proper skills, so they can ride a bike correctly and reach their full potential. How to descend, how to look around the track, how to defend, how to do a track-stand. But most importantly, I want to find the girls and boys who just want to wake up on a Saturday morning and go for a ride with some friends. My vision is to have a new generation of cyclists who love the sport like I do." (athletesvoice.com.au, 13 May 2019)

INSPIRATION
She was inspired to compete at the Olympic Games after watching athletics events live in the stadium at the 2000 Games in Sydney."I couldn't see the ground. It was just a sea of heads and there was this feeling among the people, it was something I've never felt before. That feeling to me, is the Olympic spirit and I just wanted to be part of that. That spirit, it lives within me." (tokyo2020.org, 04 Aug 2020)