Matthew Glaetzer has overcome cancer, a serious calf injury and too much spoiled chocolate to win his first Olympic medal after heartbreakingly missing three previous Games.
Glaetzer, Leigh Hoffman and Matt Richardson took a huge risk Tuesday night, completely rearranging their starting order for the men’s cycling team sprint for the bronze medal.
And it paid off, as they silenced the raucous crowd at the Olympic velodrome by beating host nation France to take third place in the event.
Glaetzer said that a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Until Paris, the number four had occupied too prominent a place in her Olympic career.
These are her fourth Games and she has already suffered four fourth-place finishes: the dreaded “chocolate medal.”
In fact, since winning bronze in the men’s team sprint event at Sydney 2000, Australia had finished fourth at every Games since.
Glaetzer had competed in the last three of those events, including losing her bronze medal in the sprint at the Rio Games.
In addition, before Tokyo, she had overcome thyroid cancer and a serious calf injury.
Matt Glaetzer collapsed into the arms of his wife Nikki after he finally overcame an Olympic jinx to secure bronze with the Australian men’s sprint cycling team.
The 31-year-old was elated after claiming third place after nearly quitting the sport when he suffered a series of heartbreaking setbacks.
“An Olympic medal means a lot. I have suffered a lot in Olympic finals,” Glaetzer said.
‘Every Olympic final I’ve competed in has been heartbreaking and the last few Olympics made me question whether I wanted to continue riding.
“My God, I’m glad I stuck it out and got that monkey off my back.”
“I’ve worked my entire elite career to try to achieve this.”
Glaetzer also admitted to having mixed feelings about not doing better this time in the team sprint.
Australia had defeated the Dutch to win the 2022 world title at the Olympic velodrome and narrowly lost to them at last year’s world championships.
So they arrived in Paris with high hopes, only to run into serious difficulties in the first round.
Although they won, Glaetzer was left far behind as the third fastest rider and that meant Australia recorded the third fastest time behind the Netherlands and Great Britain.
That put them in the fight for bronze.
Australia would probably not have beaten the Dutch, who broke their own world record to win the gold medal, but Glaetzer admitted their competition did not go as planned.
Glaetzer (pictured with his wife Nikki) had placed fourth at three previous Olympics, earning him the dreaded “chocolate medal.”
The South Australian had to overcome thyroid cancer in 2019 to keep his Olympic dream alive, and he finally made it a reality after 12 years of trying.
“We felt like we could have been in the gold race with the times we were able to achieve, but it just didn’t happen,” he said.
“I knew we had to give it our all in the final. We just gave it our all with our hearts.”
Normally, Australia starts with Hoffman, then Richardson, and Glaetzer takes third. Instead, Glaetzer, Hoffman and Richardson were the only ones to take bronze.
“I didn’t want it to get out of hand again. (The change of order) was a big risk,” Glaetzer said.
Watching the event was Australian cyclist great and team chef de mission, Anna Meares.
Having only managed one gold and one bronze at the Tokyo Games, Australian cycling now has two golds and two bronzes, and the world-record-breaking men’s team pursuit will compete for gold on Wednesday against Great Britain.
It is the first time Australian cycling has won multiple Olympic gold medals since the unprecedented gold rush in Athens, with six victories.
“I’m excited, but I’m not going to add pressure,” Meares said.
“I know what it’s like to be in that position. Just let them go through their process and adjust. Let the outcome take care of itself.”