REFLECTED GLORY

British cycling success at Rio 2016 seemed inevitable. But how did the families of those on the start line feel? Vern Pitt finds out

- Vern Pitt

It’s a warm August evening in York and in a rented house 20 women, all dressed up for a big hen night out on the town are huddled around the TV. One of the party, however, is missing. Becky James was invited but she is about to start the keirin final at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

In the Yorkshire living room in the middle of the group, dolled-up, dead centre and with a glass of wine in hand is her sister Rachel James. “I was the maid of honour so I organised it, it was perhaps a slight oversight that it clashed with the Olympics because Beck did know the girl getting married as well, she was invited,” she recalls a little sheepishly. “We had it all planned out; we went go-karting during the day and then we’d get ready and watch the race and then all go out afterwards. So we’re all there watching the Olympics having cocktails. It was quite glamourous to be fair.”

An accomplished sprinter herself, Rachel was the only person in that living room who fully understood what she was about to watch. “I was so much more nervous watching her than I’ve ever been racing myself. I just genuinely didn’t know what to do with myself,” she recalls.

The gun goes and Becky James slots into the middle of the pack behind the derny but as it pulls off with two and a half laps to go she is quickly swamped and has to raise up out of the saddle to stay in touch with the back of the accelerating pack. When the bell goes she’s still there.