-
Karen Hanlen contests Olympic mountain bike - Source: Getty Images
Kiwi mountain biker Karen Hanlen will be 36 at Rio, but is hopeful she can make another Olympic Games for New Zealand.
The 32-year-old Whakatane mother of two finished 18th in her specialist event at London, after a puncture costing her a higher finish.
Hanlen, whose background is in multisport and mountain running, earned her spot despite only taking up the sport two years ago, winning selection ahead of Beijing Olympian Rosara Joseph.
She says the Olympic experience was better than she imagined because of the crowd, but she hopes the sport will advance further by the time the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics come around.
"Hopefully, there's some strong, up-and-coming athletes in New Zealand too," she said. "I'd love to see that develop.
"Certainly, I'd love to have a shot at competing for it, but I hope there's a lot of depth by the time that we get to Rio."
Given her limited time in the sport, Hanlen hopes she'll be a better rider as well in four years.
"I've picked up and I'm learning heaps, and there's always room for improvement in this sport, especially on the technical side of it.
"I'm going to enjoy family for a little bit and normal life, see what happens. It's a sport that's stuck with me for life now, I love it."
Hanlen was sitting 16th on the penultimate lap, when she punctured after an earlier crash in a rocky section of the 29.26km race.
She dropped to 19th after replacing her tyre and recovered a place on the final 4.82km lap to finish 18th.
"It's my first puncture in a big event and it had to be this one," she said. "But it's part of mountain biking, so you take what comes."
Despite the problem, the Whakatane mother of two had a huge smile as she completed the race, enjoying every moment of the Olympic experience.
Among those present were husband Mark, children Caleb (5) and Amaria (3), and other family and friends.
"I saw Caleb and was able to give him a high five."
Julie Bresset of France won the race in a time of 1h 30m 52s, with defending champion Sabine Spitz of Germany second and the United States' Georgia Gould third.