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Prominent track cycling coach Tim Decker is well respected across world cycling, and has been nearly ever-present trackside over the past decade as Australia has performed among the best at Olympics and world championships.
It came as a shock then when it was announced that Decker was off to China to work for their track endurance program after the Tokyo Olympics came to an end in 2021. In the men’s team pursuit at that Olympics, there was controversy as years of planning literally came crashing down as Alex Porter’s handlebars snapped during qualification, forcing a restart on short notice for the Australians, who managed to recover to finish with a bronze medal.
Decker was the man who immediately made the snap call to call off the run and get the restart then, and after the Olympics, it was a similar situation of a stop followed by a restart in Australian cycling. Decker explained the move away and the decision to return at the start of 2023 in an interview with SBS Sport.
“I did need a break and it was good to have a different experience as well,” said Decker. “I’ve committed my life to Australian cycling and I always stayed committed to Australian cycling throughout that period, I was always watching.
“That Olympics cycle… it was a five-year Olympics period, and the stress of the handlebar incident, along with everything that followed on from that. It was a good chance to have a break, actually heal and recover, and start to move forward.”
The 50-year-old operates in a very specialised industry, there aren’t many jobs going for top-tier track cycling coaches, but he was able to move in the role of Head Foreign coach for China in the track program. It was an eye-opener for Decker in his relatively short time there.
“There is an absolute gold mine sitting over there in China if someone could get control of it,” said Decker. “But it would take quite a few years to get a handle on it, a bit more understanding and get a bit more power or control. Some of things I learned were around sheer numbers could impact your training environment.”
“Just to give a basic understanding, one of the competitions I went to, there were 16 men’s team pursuit teams and 13 women’s team pursuit teams. And that was just a national competition.
“There are 31 provinces, the two biggest provinces have over 100 million people in them, and the sheer complexity has you thinking about how to use your resources and trying to teach them how to use their resources as well, that was another challenge. It’s everything, not doubled, more times by four or five.”
After a year in China, Decker returned to Australia and the Australian Cycling Team with the title of ‘timed events’ coach, a role that sees him take on the training of both the men and women in the Team and Individual Pursuits. Glenn O’Shea operates as the ‘bunch events’ coach, overseeing athletes in the Madison, Elimination, Omnium and Points Race.
The change came in the midst of a revamp of the AusCycling staffing, with new names brought into the high-performance set up.
“Once I saw that AusCycling were putting some good people in place like Gene Bates and Scott Gardner for me it was no question about wanting to come back and work with those guys,” said Decker.
“I knew that I’d learned what I needed to and I’d had a long enough break and wanted to re-engage with AusCycling. I wanted to get back to the athletes I know and love and want to drive to be successful.”
To that end, Decker is working particularly with the team pursuit squads towards the goal of Olympic gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024 with a team model that involves the complicated management of bringing athletes back from the road to the track and building towards a peak for the middle of 2024.
You can read more about published a few days ago on the SBS Sport website.
Watch all the night session action from the 2023 AusCycling Track Cycling National Championships on
