When Tim Decker was 13 his life changed forever. In 1986, while traveling for his job as a forestry officer, Decker’s father was killed in a motorcycle accident near Millicent in South Australia. In a cruel twist of fate, that stretch of road was known to Decker for hosting the Mount Gambier 100 Mile Classic.
Six years after his father’s death, Decker entered his first edition of the Classic, one of the oldest continuing handicap races in Australia, with a history dating back to 1933. It has remained a constant throughout his career as a talented rider (with a palmarès including the Melbourne-to-Warrnambool one-day race) and now as the coach of the Australian track cycling’s endurance team.“Ever since I’ve been involved in cycling, I’ve had a big passion for that race,” Decker tells Guardian Australia on the eve of the Paris Olympics. “Obviously you’re trying to honour your father and do yourself and him proud.”
The Mount Gambier race has a distinguished history – past winners include Olympic gold medallist Brett Aitken, Tour de France stage winner Neil Stephens and current World Tour pros Chris Harper and Jarrad Drizners. But despite Decker’s skills on and off the bike, he never won the 100 mile classic. Over the years he has finished second, third, fourth and just last year, aged 50, fifth.
“Maybe that was my last opportunity,” he reflects of the 2023 race. “But for some reason, something in my heart and mind just kept saying, ‘no, no, you gotta keep going.’ With everything I do there’s purpose – everyone who knows me knows my passion for bikes. And I just thought – I’ll have one more go at it. It’s 2024, the year of the Olympics. If I could be successful, maybe it shows the athletes that are around me that you never know what’s possible if you keep believing, and you keep trying, and don’t give in.”
Two decades ago, at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the Australian track cycling team dominated the velodrome. Six gold medals, two silver medals and two bronze medals capped a remarkable haul that underpinned the Australian team’s equal-best overall performance. It was the era of Anna Meares, Ryan Bayley and the Brad McGee-led team pursuit squad.
Those halcyon days have not been repeated. Across the past four Games – Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo – Australia has won just one gold medal on the track. After Rio, AusCycling brought in an Englishman, Simon Jones, to shake things up. But Tokyo yielded only one medal, bronze in the men’s team pursuit – and a fortunate one at that. The repeated disappointment has led to considerable soul searching within Australian cycling.
All of which means the Australians head to Paris as underdogs in the velodrome. But there are quiet signs of optimism and regrowth. Australia’s male sprinters won silver in the team event at last year’s world championships, while Matthew Richardson finished second in the Keirin. An Olympic gold medal in one of the three men’s sprint events would not be out of the question. In the women’s Madison, meanwhile, Georgia Baker and Alexandra Manly won silver at last year’s world championships and will contend for the podium in Paris.
But in the marquee team pursuit, which Decker oversees, Australia has been off the pace. At last world championships, the Australian men were beaten by New Zealand for bronze and world champions Denmark and Olympic champions Italy are a step ahead in pace. The women’s endurance squad placed sixth in the team pursuit.
“It’s a tough rebuild from [Tokyo],” admits Decker, who himself left the program in 2022 to coach the Chinese national team, before returning to AusCycling last year. “But not impossible. As Australians we don’t shy away from being underdogs.”
Decker is adamant both squads are medal threats. “There’s a real opportunity there,” he says. “We have a group that has been there before, and there is no reason we can’t be contesting for medals on the endurance front. Yes there’s been a change of riders in some aspects, but the riders that have come in have certainly stepped up to the plate.”
As has Decker. In late 2019, Decker himself almost died in a bike incident requiring emergency surgery to stop brain bleeding. “Brain surgeries take time to recover from,” the coach says, admitting that the pandemic-induced postponement of the Tokyo Olympics were probably “a blessing” for him.
In May, he made his 20th appearance in the 100 mile classic and emerged victorious – punching the air with his fist as he crossed the line. Almost 40 years since his father’s passing, and after a career-long dedication to the Mount Gambier race, finally Decker had won the handicap.
“It happened,” he says – an air of shock still apparent two months later. “It wasn’t just about the bike race. It was about life. Your mindset has a lot do with the outcomes in your life – I think that’s me in a nutshell.”
Decker is full of confidence for these Games. “For me, coaching has always been about more than writing a program on a bit of paper. Coaching is the connection and belief you instil in your athletes. Coaching is not shying away from challenges, making a result happen that an athlete thought wasn’t possible. In the current situation, leading into Paris, I think that fits well with the team we have.”
