Cyclist Emma Pooley Will Consider Quitting Sport after World Championships
September 17th, 2012
Norfolk’s Emma Pooley has revealed that she could quit cycling after next week’s World Championships in the Netherlands.
The 29-year-old, who’s Dutch team will soon be leaving the sport, is currently dividing her time between racing and completing a university doctorate.
“I might take a year off or I might stop, I haven’t really decided yet,” she told BBC Radio Norfolk.
Norfolk’s Emma Pooley has revealed that she could quit cycling after next week’s World Championships in the Netherlands.
The 29-year-old, who’s Dutch team will soon be leaving the sport, is currently dividing her time between racing and completing a university doctorate.
“I might take a year off or I might stop, I haven’t really decided yet,” she told BBC Radio Norfolk.
Image from http://www.zimbio.com/
Pooley has had an impressive past few years winning the world time trial title two years ago and taking a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, however her hopes of more olympic silverware were all but eclipsed when she came sixth in the time trail at this year’s London Olympic games.
“I don’t want to race and race really badly, so it depends if I could find a time that would let me work around my PhD commitments, which I probably could, but I’m just not sure how I feel about it at the moment,” she added.
“I’m going to wait and see. At the end of the season, after the World Championships, it’ll be a bit clearer in my head and I’ll be able to make a decision,”
Pooley admitted that her final decision will be heavily influenced by the fact that her AA Drink-Leontiel.nl team is to fold due to budget problems.
“It’s not that easy in the women’s cycling scene because there aren’t enough teams.
“Every year a team or two seems to go under, so every year there are always lots of good riders looking for places. I think I could find a team, I’ve talked to a few.