The Flying Doctor

He may have left the BC Academy to become a doctor, but that didn’t stop Lewis Oliva being picked for the World Track squad, and there’s plenty more to come, he tells Guy Swarbrick.

- Guy Swarbrick

Recently crowned British keirin champion Lewis Oliva is a committed man. He did, after all, spend six years working on an Open University degree in philosophy before beginning his current project — studying to be a doctor at Cardiff Medical School. But as his palmarès shows, Oliva’s committed to more than just his studies.

The 24-year-old Welshman joined the British Cycling Academy programme straight from school, but as a gifted academic he became the latest of a series of riders who have been forced to make a decision between sport and higher education.

Some have tried to make a case for studying at a Manchester University alongside their training, but British Cycling has been adamant that the programme is full-time or nothing.

Oliva, though, found his own way. “It was something that has secretly been in the pipeline for a number of years. I applied for Cardiff Medical School in 2014 — for a deferred entry — and they accepted me. It’s been a childhood dream of mine and I knew that regardless of how Rio went — whether it be a selection or non-selection — I was ready to move on and dedicate my life to it.”