Jean Spies on the Olympic track
FONTAINEBLEAU – Track cyclist works hard to realise his Olympic dream.
What started as a crowd-funded trip to the African Continental Track Championships in Morocco in 2016 has culminated in the selection of Jean spies to represent South Africa in track cycling at the Tokyo Olympic Games
The Fontainebleau resident’s manager, Brigitte Mileson, has also been selected as part of the management team for the Olympics in July and August.
In 2016, Spies became the African continental track champion and the next year he competed at the World Track Championships in London.
“This was the one moment where I had to decide if I wanted to do this, or if I wanted to become an average Joe with a nine-to-five job,” he told Randburg Sun.
“If I wanted to see how far I could push the unfamiliar, I knew I would have to get uncomfortable and change everything I knew and did for the better.”
The goal-driven man set out to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, despite having to self-fund and ask for financial assistance from the community to get there.
Between 2016 and 2018 he travelled the world, asked questions, and figured out how to make his dream happen.
When the qualifying process started, Spies had to rank in the top 36 track cyclists in the world, in order to first race in the World Cup series.
This featured six races around the world per year, separate from the Continential Championships and World Championships he also had to go to.
Spies had to sleep in odd locations to make this work.
“I have lived in horse barns where I’m literally in a stable between horses… A caravan on some remote farm, in an attic and my all-time favourite place has been under the grandstands of the track that I will be competing at,” he added.
“Now just imagine living in those places where there is no running water or a toilet at your convenience, it becomes a pain when you must walk 300–400m in the snow or pouring rain to answer nature’s call. The upside to living like this has been for the most part, the people who own these places have allowed me to live there for free while I am preparing for my next event.”
Most recently, Spies has had the opportunity to be based in Switzerland at the World Cycling Centre, where he has spent his last year preparing with the hope of being on the official cyclist for Tokyo.
