Ciara Oliva returns to British Cycling after Commonwealth bronze to chase one last Olympic bid

Ciara Oliva has rejoined the British Cycling programme to pursue a final Olympic bid after winning bronze for Wales in the women's team pursuit at this summer's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The 37-year-old, who spent almost a decade away from elite competition and is a mother of three with partner and fellow cyclist Lewis, said she has 'unfinished business' at the Olympics.

Oliva first entered the Great Britain cycling setup in 2014 and went on to win bronze at the 2016 World Championships as part of the women's team pursuit, in addition to two European titles in the same event. She was named as a reserve for the Rio 2016 Olympics when Laura Kenny, Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker and Joanna Rowsell were selected and then broke the world record on their way to gold. Oliva retired in 2018 and worked as a physiotherapist before returning to international competition this year.

Her comeback reached a high point at the Commonwealth Games, where she described winning bronze with the Welsh team in front of her children as "one of the most magical moments." "I could have stopped there," she told BBC Sport Wales. "But there's unfinished business and I am going to chase my Olympic dream one last time."

Oliva says the decision to return was sparked after she watched Helen Glover's documentary and found herself unable to let go of the Olympic ambition. She reflected: "I honestly thought I was done" and added, "The years went by and I had my three beautiful children, but I watched Helen Glover's documentary and I just burst into tears. I was like, I'm not done yet."

She revealed that fewer than two years ago she told close friends and family she was considering a comeback and met scepticism: "'Are you crazy?' was the reaction," she admitted. Oliva described making the British team again as "the biggest honour" and paid tribute to her support network: "It is the biggest team effort from Lewis, my husband, who supports this 100% and [the children's] grandparents. I couldn't do it without them. We had Lewis's parents out on a training camp with us in Italy so that we were able to train together. It really pushes me on."

Oliva is balancing training around family life, fitting indoor turbo sessions into her youngest child's nap times or sometimes training late into the night. She says this phase of her career places greater emphasis on strength work and on addressing weaknesses she identified a decade ago, and that she is "faster and stronger than I have ever been." At the same time she faces a strong domestic selection environment: at last month's Track World Championships Great Britain won gold in the women's team pursuit, Millie Couzens led a GB one-two in the individual pursuit and Anna Morris finished the Championships with three golds.

Oliva acknowledges that securing final selection for the Los Angeles Games will be a "tall order" but she is pursuing an Olympic place one last time, with her family by her side as she continues to train and seek selection.