Amanda Reid has overcome a difficult preparation to successfully defend her Paralympic Games title with a commanding performance in the C1-3 500m time trial at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome, south-west of Paris.
In Tokyo the proud Wemba Wemba and Guring-gai woman became the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman to win a cycling medal at the Paralympic Games and today she went back-to-back to add a second gold to her collection.
“That was absolutely amazing considering the last 12-plus months I’ve had,” Reid said of her struggle with back injury and personal challenges.
“I just came in to go as fast as I could, and this gold medal just means everything. It means it’s all worth it, everything, all the mountains I had to climb to get here.”
Reid was the clear favourite going into the event, something she didn’t dwell on.
“I tried not to think about the pressure I just came in going, ‘It will be what it will be’ and it just happened I went back-to-back gold, which blows my mind.”
Whilst her times in the two rounds didn’t threaten the world record of 38.162 that she set at the world championships in Glasgow last year, she was far too strong for her rivals clocking 38.811 in her C2 class which when factored down gave her a final time of 36.676. That put her more than a second clear of Wangwei Qian of China, a C1 rider who claimed silver and Germany’s C2 cyclist, Maike Hausberger, who took home bronze in 38.358.
The 27-year-old is a six-time world champion in the C2 500m event and last year she claimed a Para-snowboarding world title in the snowboard cross SB-LL1 in La Molina.
Watching on from the stands was her maternal grandmother, Christine, who uses a wheelchair and is affectionally known as ‘Granny Wheels’, as Reid calls her.
“It’s so cool that she was actually able to come out with all her health conditions and make it over here,” Reid said.
“She has a few medical conditions that go along with her Indigenous heritage, so for her to come here was a big thing.”
