The 38-year-old cyclist Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio is excited to compete in the Olympic Games for a fourth time.

Moolman-Pasio, who hails from Bloemfontein, will become just the second South African woman to compete at the pinnacle of world sport for a fourth time, after the javelin thrower Sunette Viljoen.

She will also be one of three athletes who attended Eunice Girls’ School in Bloemfontein to compete in the Paris Olympics. The other two are the hockey players Taheera Augousti and Kayla Swarts. Swarts is the younger sister of the 400 m world record holder, Wayde van Niekerk, who won gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. He will be competing in the sprint events again this year.

Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio. Photo: Instagram/Tristan Cardew.

Moolman-Pasio, who only started cycling after school, has had a difficult year due to illness in Belgium and a serious crash recently.

She told OFM Sport that despite the setbacks through illness and the crash, she feels like a much more complete athlete and is ready and excited to compete again in Paris.

“I really believe that I’ve grown as a person, in maturity, in character, and in mental strength, and so now I really do believe that I’m the best version of myself and the most complete athlete going to the Paris Olympic Games,” said Moolman-Pasio.

‘I've not raced very much this year’

“Of course, it’s a big goal to have a really good performance there, however, I have had a rather challenging year. I’ve not raced very much this year because, firstly, because of illness – during the Spring Classics campaign in Belgium, it was super cold and so I picked up a bacterial infection as a result.

“Then just as I started to get back into racing again unfortunately, I had a crash almost seven weeks ago where I fractured my T10 vertebra, so I faced many challenges this year, but I'm very grateful that through all of these obstacles and challenges, and by having faith and by hope I've come through it really well.

Moolman-Pasio added that despite the injury sustained, her training hasn’t been affected much, and she will be heading to the Olympics in a good mental space. This also helps with the pressure to perform.

‘I'm feeling really good and really motivated’

“The injury hasn’t really affected my training much at all, you know, wearing a back brace I've been able to do all of my normal activities and my normal training. Now I'm at altitude training normally without the big back brace and I'm feeling really good and really motivated to be going to Paris to race my fourth Olympic Games.

“It does kind of put me in a slightly different mind space – I’m going to the games just really grateful to have overcome these obstacles. I'm feeling really inspired by the fact that God has blessed me with a smooth recovery and that I am able to start, so I’m going into the games already with gratitude and feeling like I’ve achieved something just by being there.”

The Olympics in Paris officially starts on Friday night with the opening ceremony, and she will be in action on 4 August.

 OFM Sport/Morgan Piek  dg/mvh