Leeds' Anna Blyth targets 2012 Olympic place

By Jennifer Berry
BBC Radio Leeds Blast reporter

Blyth hopes to be in the Team GB squad for London 2012

Cyclist Anna Blyth hopes being part of one of the best teams in the world will help her reach the top of the sport and become a champion on the track.

The 22-year-old, from Leeds, was just 15 when she was spotted at Benton Park School by British Cycling and after earning a place at the national sprint academy in Manchester, she has since taken up the sport professionally.

Blyth, who will represent England at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, has picked up a number of medals in junior competitions across the world in the keirin and sprint events and has her sights on cementing a place in the Great Britain squad for the London 2012 Olympics.

"At the top of the ambitions it has got to be the Olympics," she told BBC Radio Leeds. "To make the team for London 2012 would be a dream come true.

"I'd be made up with that and hopefully to go there and perform well would be great too but I just want to keep improving and every year, getting a bit closer to London 2012.

"Hopefully if I do make it there I'll pick up a few medals on the way."

As a youngster, Blyth was a keen hockey player before switching to cycling, and as a fully-fledged professional now has her sights set firmly on winning medals at the biggest tournaments in the world.

With the Olympics coming to London, it is the perfect opportunity to make her mark in track cycling and despite her age, she is unfazed by any added pressure the 'home' Games may bring.

But she has admitted that the success of Team GB's cyclists at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 means much is expected of them in 2012.

"There's always going to be pressure but with the really good showing Team GB had last Olympics in Beijing, we'll always need to get another medal," she said.

"I think as an athlete all you can do is your training and your preparation and then just treat it like any other competition because otherwise it could end up that you do feel a lot of pressure if you don't perform like you'd want to.

"When you're in training, you're training against the best in the world. They're either a world champion or an Olympic champion and you can't ask for much more.

"You expect a bit more of yourself knowing the people around you have achieved what they have. It's quite inspirational these days with the amount of medals flying around."