Jason Queally - From Olympic Champion to Superstar!
Interview by British Cycling's Larry Hickmott
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A Great Britain rider who needs little introduction is the Sydney 2000 Olympic Kilometre champion Jason Queally. During a training session with the rest of his Great Britain teammates at Manchester last week, I sat down with Jason as he rested from a series of starting efforts on the track and talked about the up coming World Track Championships in LA where he is now in training.
Talking to Jason is always a laugh and although I go into the interview with the intention of trying to keep it short so as to not distract him from his training, invariably we end up losing track of time as the question and answers keep on, keeping on and this day was no different to those in the past.
It got to the point that we chatted for so long that when 2004 Olympic champion Chris Hoy returned from an effort on the track, and seeing us still talking, he couldn't resist taking the proverbial out of his GB team mate. A common practice it would seem? It was another example of how very easy going it is in this team and there were no signs of any pressures or nerves as the Track Worlds approach. But then why would there be as these riders have been there and done it all since they all started out together in 1996.
It was back in 1996 that Jason first started doing the TeamSprint/Kilometre events and in 2005, nine years later and despite thinking in the last few years that perhaps his kilo days were over, the rider from Chorley is back to try the Kilo again. It means that Great Britain, with Jason and Chris lining up in the same event, will have two Olympic champions (2000 & 2004) in the kilometre event with Jason having been the first to make his mark internationally for GB way back in 1998 when he did a '3' in Bordeaux.
"The kilo was always my first event followed by the Team Sprint" he explained. "Being third man in the Team Sprint really meant I didn't have to do much training for that".
From that 7th place in 1998, within two years, he was both a Gold and Silver medal winner at the Sydney Olympics after he had beaten the very best to win the Kilometre and then with Craig MacLean and Chris Hoy, went ever so close to beating the French in the Team Sprint. It was quite an achievement, a Gold and a Silver, something I don't think he gets the credit he deserves to this day. It was for many after all, the start of the rise and rise of the Great Britain team in the World rankings on the track. 
After that success in Sydney though, his team mate Chris Hoy was getting 'bored' doing man one in the Team Sprint and wanted to try the Kilometre. What followed were some long training camps with Jason in Australia and in 2002 the two team mates in the GB camp, went man on man in the Commonwealth Games with Hoy riding for Scotland coming out on top winning in 1.01.726 to Jason's 1.01.947. The pupil had beaten the master, just, and it was around this time that Jason admits that he started to concentrate more on the Team Sprint.
"When it was looking likely that it was going to be tough to get that Olympic spot in the Kilo, I decided to focus most of my energies into the Team Sprint, and most of my training was then based on that which was a little different because of the differences in the bike and the bar set up."
What followed was that Craig MacLean then came out and beat both Chris and Jason in the Olympic trials and in the end it was Chris and Craig who went on to ride the Kilo at both the Worlds and the Olympics with Chris keeping the Kilometre title in Great Britain. For Jason, losing his Kilo spot was certainly a blow but looking for a positive in that, he admits that it did lift the pressure off him a lot and even now, even though he's doing the Kilo again, he admits that after concentrating on the Team Sprint in training, that if anything comes out of his Kilo ride in LA, it's going to be a bonus.
At the time we spoke, with the riders only days away from going out to LA, Jason admits that it was his first time for a while doing specific Kilo training and judging from his comments to coach Iain Dyer during the session, there were still a few technical things to sort out as he got to grips with the different handlebars and the start required for this event. It isn't just the bike he's coming to terms with though as he's also aware of the pressure he feels is on him to perform in the Kilo.
Not that he doesn't feel he can't cope with that pressure but he does admit its not something he revels in. "I'd prefer to say to the team when it comes to the Kilo, what will be, will be. I have been training dam hard for the Team Sprint, and have been doing very well in that, and if I do something good in the Kilo, that's brilliant but don't start pinning your hopes on me. If we got a couple of medals in the Kilo that would be fantastic but I'm trying not to put that pressure on myself at the minute."
You get the feeling that Jason is happy to share the pressure in the Team Sprint this year and then refocus on the Commonwealth Games which is his next big goal. But the build-up for the Team Sprint hasn't been ideal for GB with Jamie Staff having been injured and Craig Maclean getting a cold in the last week or so, and Jason can seemingly feel the shift of emphasis going from the Team Sprint to the Kilometre. He is however, still enjoying his racing and after the bad luck in Athens, its good to see he still has the ambition to carry on and make the most of the great form he had in Athens.
Team Sprint and Jason riding man two, a position he rode in during both rounds of the Team Sprint at the Manchester World Track in January. Selection for this event is still to be made for the Worlds but Jason is down to ride the Kilometre after a win and a second in this seasons UCI World Track Cup series.
When I put it to him that last August, in the words of his manager Shane Sutton, he was in the form of his life and despite not getting a medal, that must be encouraging, Jason wasn't so sure. "Yes, its encouraging but it was a bit of double edged sword to be honest. Okay, I was in the best form of my life but I couldn't ride and that for me was the biggest disappointment of my life. But positively, off the back of that, I am still going very very well. I seem to have a slightly different philosophy to some people who when they have good form, they try and keep that form going for as long as they can and nail it every single year. Me, more mentally than physically, I tend to draw it back a bit and say that the important time for me will be the Commonwealth Games and then the Beijing Olympics. Obviously within each year, I still try my best, but I do that to try and lift that pressure off myself. My philosophy is if I push too hard, then somewhere down the line, I'm going to stop."
Looking back at his success in Sydney 2000, he says "I thought I would come to a peak as a Kilo rider around the 2002 Commonwealth Games because I had only been riding the kilo properly for three years and to go from being a non bike rider to a kilo champion in three years wasn't realistic. I thought it would take four or five years and the irony is I thought then that it would fall between the two Olympics and I'd miss out on both. So Sydney happening for me was the biggest shock of my life."
That shock however has helped Jason deal with the bad luck in Athens and to an extent, taken the pressure off his shoulders. "Now" he says "I'm looking at the positives and looking forward. The key factors in my riding are as long as I'm enjoying it and going well, I'll carry on. If any of those two facets disappear, then I will stop."
It is a far cry from only a few months ago when he thought his Kilo days were numbered. After not being selected for the Olympic kilo, there was a long period when he thought that event was history for him but as the Athens Olympics got ever closer, he realised he had more to give in the Kilometre. 
Right: Manchester 2002 and the Commonwealth Games where he won a silver in a clean sweep for GB riders in the Kilometre.
And thoughts turned to the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia, a country he has a great affection for even though he would just love to beat them in the Kilo in Melbourne. Before that though he has the Worlds which has arrived on the scene much earlier than normal and not long after the Olympics. Like it has been for most of the riders, the period since Athens has been non-stop and for Jason, it was a chance to raise his public profile again!
Whereas once he was recognised as the face of the Sydney Olympics after winning GB's first Gold medal and then having his photo splashed across all the front pages and subsequently cartons of cereals, nowadays, he's known for his sporting exploits in another medium, that of the TV show, Superstars. Asked how he enjoyed that, Jason explains ?
"It was interesting. It came straight after the Olympics in what was for us quite a strange year where we had the biggest event of our lives and then three or four weeks later, we were straight back into it due to the World championships being where they are now in the calendar. So we had a break after Athens and then I went straight into Superstars. I didn't have any idea how I'd go but it went well and was great. There were some great people out there and it was nice to mix with other competitors because we don't really get the opportunity to hang around with other people, like motor racing drivers, golfers, snooker players and it was good."
He then joked about how now when people see him in the streets, is "Jason from Superstars", not "Jason the Olympic champion!"
My final question was to ask whether he felt the long run up to the Commonwealth Games in 12 months would help his preparation to tackle the Kilometre in Melbourne. "Hopefully" he said. "Having a clear run through to the Commonwealth Games will be very positive for me and we'll probably have a build up like we used to have in Australia. I find Australia the best environment in the World to train in. It has the weather, the facilities, so I'm really looking forward to the Commonwealth Games."
In the meantime, there is the little matter of the World Championships which may not be as big in the public eye as the Commonwealths or Olympics but are still dam good fun to win and a rainbow jersey in the Team Sprint or Kilometre is something that has eluded Jason. Not that he seems that unhappy about it but the attraction is still there. And even if he doesn't medal in Los Angeles, Jason knows its just the first step back and like everyone in the team, he's hoping that the form he had in Athens returns for Melbourne and Beijing respectively and he can again, do himself justice in the event that made him into a superstar well before Superstars was even thought of ?.
Good luck Jason!
Jason admits to enjoying his training time in Australia (Perth) and here he looks like a great legend from that part of Oz, Dennis Lillee (well, he does to me anyway!)
Jason in the Team Sprint at the 2004 World Championships where the team won a bronze medal.
Jason in good spirits at the Olympic holding camp (Newport) where he says not riding the Kilo in Athens in the form of his life was the biggest dissapointment of his life ....
... Flowers -- for me? Shock!
2003 and Jason is pictured with then World Kilometre champion Chris Hoy, who retained his title again last year, and the two of them are expected to represent GB in Los Angeles next week in the Kilometre.
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