Laura Kenny, who owns the British female record of five Olympic gold medals, announced her retirement from track cycling to spend more time with her family.
“It’s been in my head a little while, just the sacrifices of leaving the children and your family at home is really quite big, and it really is a big decision that you have to make,” Kenny told the BBC. “It was getting more and more that I was struggling to do that, and then more people ask me what races was I doing, what training camps was I going on — I didn’t want to go, ultimately, and I think that’s what it came down to.”
Kenny (née Trott), 31, won omnium and team pursuit gold at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, then added the madison and won that in Tokyo.
She became the fourth Brit to win five Olympic golds and leaves as one of two British women to win six total medals along with still active equestrian Charlotte Dujardin.
Kenny is the last of Great Britain’s 11 track cycling gold medalists from the 2012 London Games to retire from the discipline. Geraint Thomas still competes on the road.
Kenny married fellow track cyclist Jason Kenny, a seven-time Olympic champion, in September 2016. They have two sons — Albie, born in 2017, and Monty, born last July.
In her final major competition, Kenny won the 2022 Commonwealth Games scratch race (not an Olympic event) representing host England in Birmingham.
Thank you cycling for everything you’ve given me - including a husband and our growing family! ❤️
— Dame Laura Kenny (@LauraKenny31) March 18, 2024
Having people say I have inspired women and girls to get active and get on a bike means the world to me. pic.twitter.com/nddT7pF3c1