BIANCA Walkden is determined to rise above her agonising semi-final defeat at Rio 2016 to ensure her spectacular career is not defined by Olympics heartbreak.
Walkden is the first taekwondo athlete to be shortlisted for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award after a year in which she retained her world title and became the first female in her sport to sweep all four of the prestigious World Grands Prix.
Nomination was a major boost for the Liverpudlian 26-year-old, bolstering her belief that while Olympic gold remains the ultimate accolade in her sport, recognition of her dominance away from the Games is equally justified.
Walkden, who still came home from Rio with a bronze medal after picking herself up from sudden-death defeat to win her third place match, said: “I didn’t want the Olympics to define me after only getting bronze.
“I knew I was good enough to get gold but it just didn’t happen on the day. It was important for me to get straight back and make sure losing in Rio was not the first thing that I was going to be remembered for.
“That’s why it’s so great to be nominated in a non-Olympic year. It’s in my home city of Liverpool as well so it really is more than I could have hoped for. I’m going to take as much as possible out of it and hopefully it will give my sport more publicity too.”
Few other fellow nominees dominated their respective sports like Walkden in 2017, sweeping all the major titles and suffering only one controversial loss at the Dutch Open in the early part of the year.
And there is still time for Walkden to raise the bar even higher.
Walkden said: “I’m obviously looking towards the next Games in Tokyo because it’s the one thing I’ve still got to tick off my list.
“But meanwhile I’ll keep pushing and try to continue to win as many major championships as I can along the way.”
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