WHEN cycling legend Dame Laura Kenny hears the repetitive thud of a tennis ball outside her kitchen window, she allows herself a wry smile. For the racquet holder in question is her six-year-old son, Albie. And while his passion suggests a future Wimbledon contender in the making, it means he's unlikely to follow in the tyre tracks of Laura or her husband, fellow Olympian Sir Jason Kenny.
Between them the duo have an incredible 12 Olympic gold medals and are the most successful cyclists in the competition's history, which began its 33rd Summer Games in Paris last night with a spectacular opening ceremony. "It's so annoying, Albie doesn't like cycling at all!" Laura laughs. "We live on a country road, so we can nip out and ride over to the shops.
"Jason does it every other day and I'm always saying, 'Why don't you go with Daddy?' And he says: 'No, I don't want to ride'. He's literally sports mad; he loves tennis and spends his evenings hitting a tennis ball against a wall.
"He spends hours trampolining, too. Yet if I say, 'Let's ride to the corner shop, he'll say, 'Can we run there?""
Laura is both bemused and perplexed by the situation, although in fairness she's just as happy her son loves sport - even if it's not her own. "He looks so natural on a bike, it's unbelievable, but I don't think it's going to be his thing. He says it hurts his bum and it probably does, but I don't remember that when I was little - I always saw it as fun," she continues.
"If he took up cycling, he would have that comparison with me and his dad the whole time. The sports world is a hard one to grow up in, anyway it's cut-throat, you're either in the team or not."
Having announced her retirement from cycling earlier this year, the 32-year-old is enjoying motherhood and dedicating her spare time to projects she's passionate about.
Top of her list is promoting the benefits of childhood exercise.
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