Queally rolls back the years in pursuit of London 2012

By Gerard Meagher, Sportsbeat

 WHEN Jason Queally was capturing Olympic gold in Sydney, Ben Swift was just 12 years old but a decade on and the duo are set to take wildly contrasting if equally significant steps on the road to London 2012.

COMEBACK TRAIL: Jason Queally, pictured celebrating Olympic gold in Sydney, gets back in the World Championship saddle this week in Copenhagen (Getty Images)

Queally, 39, and 22-year-old Swift are both vying for a spot on in the team pursuit quartet at the World Track Cycling Championships this week alongside Ed Clancy, Andy Tennant and Steven Burke - both are effectively bidding to stake an early claim for London 2012.

For Queally, selection in the 19-strong British squad brings to an end a four-year hiatus, having last competed at the World Championships in 2006, while he effectively announced retirement after failing to make the British squad for the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Having jumped out of the pool and traded water polo for the boards at the Manchester Velodrome, to catalyse British Cycling's boon, 13 years previous, Queally's career was at an end.

Queally's success has always come in sprinting. His Olympic gold came in the kilo and his eight World Championship medals have also come over 1000m or in the team sprint.

Seemingly too old for international competition but still too attached to his bike, Queally embarked on a bid to compete at the London 2012 Paralympics as a tandem pilot with partially-sighted cyclist Anthony Kappes.

The duo took part in an exhibition event at last year's Paralympic World Cup in Manchester but such has Queally's endurance form been this season that he has been selected for the trip to Copenhagen.

This is no swansong however. Spend a mere matter of minutes with the British Cycling coach staff and it does not take a genius to fathom that London 2012 drives everything they do.

He may not be as much of a household name as Lance Armstrong, but GB head coach Shane Sutton was quick to highlight the seven-time Tour de France winner's comeback at the age of 37.   

"Its great to see Jason back," said Sutton. "I always tell the lads you are a long time working. Stay on that bike as long as you can get away with it. The list or riders who retired too early is endless.

"Listen, Lance Armstrong was damned near 38 last July when he finished third in the Tour de France. When it comes to endurance events, age is not such a huge factor."

For Queally's sake, it better not be. Impressive performances are one thing but he will be 42 by the time the Olympic circus arrives in the capital.

Queally, however is not easily fazed, nor is he one to shirk a challenge. Trademark grizzly beard in tow, if he were any more laid back he'd be horizontal - but Queally believes he is up to the task.

"It's brilliant to be back but 2006 was the last World Championships I competed in. A lot has change since then, the set-up, the personnel and myself, but it is great to be back," he said.

"It's really quite bizarre and I never expected to be here. It's a little bit like when I first started cycling for me and became Olympic champion and even to this day I struggle with that now.

"I've been very fortunate that I just love riding my bike and I get paid to ride my bike. Prior to being a cyclist I had a full-time job so I can appreciate how good it is to then become a full-time cyclist.

"And I just wanted to continue with that for as long as I could and the Paralympic route was the best way through to London 2012 at the time.

"But I wouldn't be here today if I didn't think I could compete at London 2012. It's going to be really difficult, I've got Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins and some younger guys coming up as well so it's going to be very hard.

"I'm motivated and passionate about it and I'll know that even if I don't make it I'll have tried my best and it's going to be an amazing journey."

When Queally first laid his roots at the Manchester Velodrome, the all-conquering British Cycling machine was very much a work-in-progress.

Chris Boardman had scooped Olympic gold in Barcelona, but as Queally points out, funding was concentrated in the hands of just a few.

"It all kicked off with Chris Boardman in Barcelona in 1992, but that was in a different guise. Chris was looked after by a coach and the British Cycling Federation invested all its money into one product."

But after six months in the Manchester Velodrome, Queally was at national standard. National Lottery funding ensued and the rest, as they say, is history.

"Let's all remember who started this. Jason Queally was the spark for this programme taking off in Sydney," Sutton added

"In the field of battle, when it really matters, the lads will be able to look across to him and say to themselves, we have someone here who is a real warrior, who knows the trenches like nobody else.

"And I think they will see that as a strength."