GROS Mathilde

General
JAPAN EXPERIENCE
In 2018 she spent two-and-a-half months competing in Japan on the keirin circuit. "We couldn't speak with [the Japanese cyclists] in Japanese and they couldn't speak English, so we had people translating but we still managed to communicate really well. They were interested in our lives as foreigners and asked lots of questions. I built strong relationships with them and we're still in touch, even though it's been quite a long time since I was in Japan." (olympics.com, 10 Nov 2020)

OLYMPIC DREAM
She first dreamed about competing at the Olympic Games in 2008. "I started to play basketball at age three. That was my passion, basketball was my life. At Beijing 2008 [Olympic Games], when I watched the US women's team win the Olympic gold [in basketball], my father was sitting next to me and I said to him, 'Dad, I want to compete in the Olympics. No matter what sport, I want to go to the Games'. Then he laughed." (olympics.com, 10 Nov 2020)

DIFFICULT BEGINNINGS
In 2015 she joined the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance [INSEP], and fell during her first training session in the velodrome. A few months later, in her first competition, she fell again. "The first time I attempted [riding in] the INSEP velodrome, I fell and a big splinter got stuck in my buttock. Herman Terryn, my coach, was looking at me and asking himself what he would do with me. I needed a month-and-a-half before I could race again, as I was afraid. In my first competition the following January, I fell twice in 15 minutes and had splinters everywhere. I almost quit track cycling. I even went to the train station to go back home, but in the end I changed my mind." (olympics.com, 10 Nov 2020)