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.
This story is from the July 27, 2024 edition of Daily Express.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July 27, 2024 edition of Daily Express.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Blues make Marc as Guiu hits the jackpot
HAT-TRICK HERO IS QUICK TO SHATTER IRISH HOPES
Lane needs more rain
KEMPTON GROUND FEARS FOR JP'S TEAM
Festive-flavoured vapes slammed by top NHS doctor
Spike in admissions among young users
Profs win battle over smokers' wall
TWO Oxford dons have won a six-figure row with a hotel next door over a collapsed garden wall and its staff \"smoking and chatting\" too close to their home.
PoW life's such a drag for officer in panto
THE war diaries of a British PoW who became an unlikely star attraction in camp as a panto dame have come to light 79 years on.
There's NUN so good at crime fighting!
Ahead of its Christmas special, JAMES RAMPTON visits the picturesque Cotswolds set of Sister Boniface Mysteries (at the height of summer) to discover just why the Sixties-set cosy crime drama has captivated audiences all over the world
Puffin pic secures prize for teenage twitcher Anwen
THIS picture of a plaintive puffin has been picked for the top prize in the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards.
'Blast' prank by soldier ‘reckless'
A SOLDIER left colleagues with hearing loss after \"recklessly\" setting off a battle noise simulator to celebrate the end of an exercise, a court martial heard.
Vegetarian piranha and DiCaprio snake among new species
AVEGETARIAN piranha from the Amazon and a flying dinosaur found on the Isle of Skye are among the species previously unknown to science that have been named this year.
Anger over takeover of Titanic shipbuilder
Critics fear final assembly will move from Belfast to Spain
