December 5/00 2:50 am - Muenzer Interview

Posted by Editor on 12/5/00
 

A Great Year for Muenzer

Mark Connolly, the CBC cycling commentator at the Sydney Games recently interviewed World Championship silver medallist Lori-Ann Muenzer after she got back from Europe (both Lori-Ann and Mark live in Edmonton). Mark was kind enough to turn his audio interview in the printed word and send it along.


With the retirement of Tanya Dubnicoff, Lori-Ann Muenzer is Canada's top women's track cyclist. And she had a year which shows she's ready to pick up the torch.

Muenzer moved to Edmonton September first of 1999 and started training at the Argyll Velodrome. She joined the Juventus Cycling Club where Steen Madsen became her coach. Muenzer qualified for her first Olympic Games and then won a silver medal at the world championships. At age 34, she's not ready to stop. "I feel like this year, I've finally arrived and I've been there. I feel like I've finally landed and now I want to do more"

Sydney Olympics

In Sydney, Muenzer competed in the Women's 500 Metre Time Trial. She finished 13th with a time of 35.846. Her competition was on the first day of the Games, which made for a very brief Olympic experience. "I don't think there's one word that you can use to describe it. It was the most unbelievable thing and it was over so fast, you want to say: 'Can I do that over again?'. I sure would have liked to do some sprinting and obviously at the world championships, it went really well".

World Championships

At the world's Muenzer achieved her best finish ever, surprising even herself with a silver medal in the sprint. "I couldn't believe it. I mean, realistically, top three or top five. I mean you always want to come away with a medal and hopefully, it's the yellow coloured one. But I just took one race at a time and it's 'oh my goodness, I'm in the finals'. And I couldn't believe I was so close, I was so close!" Muenzer lost in the third heat of the final to Natalia Markovnichenko of Belarus. She finished 5th in the 500 metre time trial with a time of 35.711.

The Future

Muenzer plans to keep going as long as she can. At the world championships, she was encouraged by 41-year-old Russian Galina Enioukhina, who was competing in the sprints. "I found that really inspiring because, alright, I'm 34, the next Olympics are in 4 years and that'll make me 38 and if Toronto gets 'em, that'll make me 42, so as long as I'm having fun and I've got the awesome support of work and my health is really well, I'm going to keep going"