Northern Ireland’s Wendy Houvenaghel has laid down her dentist’s tools for the time being and has her sights firmly set on gold at the London 2012 Olympics. The thirty-seven-year-old has said she will return to her career after the games, but Houvenaghel won’t settle for anything less than victory in the 3km individual pursuit cycling event, after taking the silver in Beijing behind GB’s Rebecca Romero. ‘I’m totally committed to attempt to win the gold medal with my team-mates in August,’ the professional cyclist said, adding that there were ‘many sacrifices’ that she has made in in pursuit of her dream.
Wendy, who is a former Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant, is focusing on the summer games for now, and plans to return to dental work afterwards, saying ‘ There’s a lot I need to think about in the future, but at the moment I can only think about the next few weeks and months and the Olympic Games. I’d imagine at some point in time I’ll pick up my dentist drill again and resume that career.’
While she’s been a full-time athlete for the last six years, the dental industry has moved forward in leaps and bounds, but Wendy is confident that she can easily get back into the swing of things, when the time comes for her to pack up her bicycle for good, whenever that may be; ‘I have been keeping up to date,’ she said, ‘and I will look forward to getting back to that again, just when remains to be seen.