Spotlight on Michelle Vorster

MICHELLE Vorster is living proof that through hard work and dedication, dreams can become reality. Four years ago she was a housewife, raising three young children in East London, South Africa, but now, at the age of 37, she will be going to the Rio Olympic Games to represent Namibia in the women’s mountain bike race.

Michelle was born and raised in Windhoek, matriculating at Academia High School, and although she played netball and did athletics at school, she never excelled at sport.

After school she went to Europe on a gap year where she met her husband, Johan, and they later returned to Namibia after he got a job in Walvis Bay.

They started raising a family – they now have two daughters and a son – while Michelle also started studying through Unisa and graduated with a B Comm degree in 2006.

In the mean time they transferred to East London through Johan’s work, and Michelle started competing in triathlons and even came second in her age group once.

But it was only with her return to Namibia in 2013 that her love for cycling and her rapid ascent to become Namibia’s top female mountain biker began, and it started off in rather bizarre circumstances.

“I saw a group of cyclists on the road who were training for the Argus Cycle Tour, so I just stopped them – it’s not my personality at all, but I just stopped them and asked if I could train with them. So they invited me to join them and later I also started doing mountain bike riding,” she said.

“One day I went mountain bike riding and I’ll never forget it – I had a few falls and was battered and bruised, but when I got home I told my husband it was the most awesome ride. He looked at me and said ‘what do you mean, look what you look like!’ but I loved it and that’s how the mountain biking bug bit,” she added.

Michelle started competing on the Namibian cycling circuit and soon made her mark, winning the women’s sub-veterans category in 2014. In the mean time she got a personal coach and remembers clearly how her Olympic dream originated.

“Two years ago my coach asked me what my ultimate dream was – he said I must write it on a piece of paper. So I wrote, ‘to make the Olympics in 2016’, and folded it and put it away. At the time I thought, ‘what chance do I have of making the Olympics’, but now here I am and I am going.”

By 2015 she started competing in the Elite Women’s category and more success lay in store as she won the National Mountain Bike title while losing narrowly out to Vera Adrian in the National Cycling Championships.

Michelle represented Namibia for the first time at the 2015 African Mountain Bike Championships where she had a great ride, finishing third overall behind two South African cyclists. The race also served as an Olympic qualifier and to date it has been her toughest race.

“It was very emotional because we knew this is where we could start to get an Olympic spot. I must say, I never thought I would come third, because at that stage I hadn’t trained so much, so it was amazing experience,” she said.

Initially only South Africa qualified for the Olympics by taking the first spot, but later they declined their continental quota for the Olympics after an agreement between Cycling South Africa and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) that stipulated that they had to qualify via world rankings and not continental championships.

Despite the uncertainty, Michelle continued to train as if she had qualified for the Olympics.

“My coach said, prepare yourself for the Olympics, as if you have already qualified, you cannot sit back now and wait until you are sure of going. So my training basically started constructively in October last year – it was just a leap of faith, so I just continued training although it wasn’t always easy.”

Michelle also competed at the World Championships and a World Cup event in Europe, and the good news was finally confirmed earlier this month.

“The night before I left for Europe, Joan Smit of the Namibia Olympic Committee called me – she was ecstatic saying ‘you’ve got the spot, you’ve got the Olympic spot. I was so excited, I couldn’t sleep that evening,” she said.

“It’s amazing. I don’t think the greatness of the event has hit home yet – it’s massive and I think it will only hit me the day when I walk out at the opening ceremony. For me it will be a once in a lifetime opportunity, because let’s face it, I’m not todays child anymore. I just want to breathe in and experience that moment as much as I can,” she added.

One on one with Michelle Vorster

When and where were you born?

Windhoek, 12 September 1978.

Schools attended:

Pionierspark Primary School and Academia High School.

Did you have any sporting heroes as a child?

I didn’t really follow sport much in my youth, but I’d say my brother (Juan Mills) played a role in my life. He represented Namibia at motocross in my early years, so I grew up with that and also rode a bit. I’d say he was my idol because he had a competitive spirit and he was good in what he did. I’d say that’s where my competitiveness started and he played a big role in that.

The African Mountain Bike Championships in Rwanda, because it was such a dreadful day, it rained, and because there was a chance of qualifying for the Olympics. It was definitely the toughest and emotionally most draining race in my life. I’ll never forget that day, I was full of mud, I couldn’t see, but it was amazing.

What do you like to eat and drink?

I’m not fussy, I eat healthy foods, but I’d say my favourite is suschi, especially before a race. Then I like chocolate and red wine.

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