Barnsley-born Ed Clancy is totally focused on a third successive Olympic gold medal just a few months after he feared he may have been partially paralysed for life.
The 30-year-old sustained a back injury while picking up a suitcase in September and it affected the nerves in his foot.
"It's called drop foot," Clancy told the Chronicle. "I had carried on riding after my back injury and it was just getting worse and worse.
"A nerve in my foot was squashed and it was in danger of being permanently damaged. I was losing motor skills in my left side and I might have been paralysed forever if I hadn't had the operation in December."
Suddenly the third Olympic team pursuit title, which he had been working towards since securing his second gold at London 2012, seemed insignificant with his well-being under severe threat.
"I was genuinely worried that I would never walk again," said the former pupil at Springvale Primary School in Penistone.
"The worlds and the Olympics and my career weren't even in my mind. The operation carried an element of risk but I didn't have anything to lose. It was a no brainer. I just hoped for the best. For the first few days after the operation I was just stumbling around and couldn't move properly, it was a joke.
"Then for the next two weeks we didn't know if I could ride a bike again but, by week three or four, I knew I would be able to ride but I wasn't sure at what level. Then by week six or seven I knew I could ride at an elite level again and I tried to target the worlds."
Clancy had just a few weeks to get himself to the same level as the other potential candidates for the team pursuit event at the World Championships in London last week. He was not named in the original squad but rang his coaches and managed to convince them to give him more time. He did some testing and was among the top five performers so was named in the squad. The Ingbirchworth lad did not appear in the early rounds but was involved in the final which GB lost to Australia and had to settle for a silver medal.
Clancy said: "It was shades of grey for me at the worlds. After the operation in December nobody thought I would make it so to get there is a great achievement. "I only rode with any real venom for the last two or three weeks. But you never want to lose a final, especially to the Aussies."
Clancy is now determined to reverse that result at this year's Olympics in Rio, Brazil and follow up the golds he achieved at Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
He said: "I might enter some other events in the build-up but all I care about is the Olympics. The aim is to win gold. At the moment the Aussies are the best team but we know what the blueprint is and we know what we need to do. In 2008 and 2012 we improved by two or three seconds from the worlds that year to the Olympics later on and we will have to do that again.
"It won't be easy but we know we can do it. The whole experience with the operation and being worried I would never walk again has just made me even more determined to make the most of being fit and able to compete at the highest level."
