Engineering grad Monique Sullivan is on the right track in Rio

Monique Sullivan’s cycling career all started at the University of Calgary when she was 12 and her parents signed her up for a program with all disciplines of cycling: road, mountain and track cycling on the velodrome.  

“I wasn’t very good at any of them,” recalls the Schulich School of Engineering alumna, BSc (Eng)'15, and Olympian. “But I really loved riding the track and fell in love with that one right away.” 

By 15, Sullivan was competing in a category for girls 17 to 18. When she won a medal at the Canadian Championships, she had to give it back because she wasn’t ‘age-eligible.’ She has gone on to win plenty of other medals at the Pan Am games and Commonwealth games.

'I had a little hidden engine that I didn't even know was there'

“It’s a unique sport because you don’t need hand-eye coordination and you don’t need to be able to run,” says Sullivan. “It’s all about your engine and I had a little hidden engine that I didn’t even know was there.”

Riding her bike may have played a subliminal role in choosing to study mechanical engineering at Schulich.

“It’s the only thing that interested me,” says Sullivan. “Over the years, there have been quite a few engineers who have come through the track program and I think it’s because of these really cool machines that we get to ride. It’s pretty amazing how fast you can go on these bikes that, on the surface, are a relatively simple design.”

It took nine years for Sullivan to finish her degree, in part because she took a two-and-a-half year break to prepare for and compete in the 2012 London Olympics.

She finished sixth in keirin (where the athletes have a controlled start behind a pacing bike) and 11th in the sprint event. When she came back to Schulich, she had to “relearn everything.”

Parallels between Olympic training and pursuit of engineering degree 

Sullivan sees parallels between the focus it takes to train for the Olympics and studying to be an engineer.

“When we’re working toward a goal — a new weight in the gym or a new time on the track — it’s this sort of struggle and you have these breakthrough moments,” she says. “I really love that feeling when you didn’t know if you’d be able to figure something out at school or you didn’t know you’d be able to do it, and then you finally do it.”

"Monique is an example of our amazing Schulich graduates," says Schulich dean Bill Rosehart. "At the Schulich School of Engineering, we are committed to doing everything to support our students' success, including being there for our student athletes as they balance their studies and training. We are thrilled for Monique and can't wait to cheer her on in Rio."

Sullivan made history in 2015 as the first Canadian cyclist to win three gold medals at the Pan Am Games in Toronto.

'I really miss school'

Sullivan will compete in the team sprint, individual sprint and keirin at the Rio Olympics.

“This is the fun part,” she says.  After Rio, she’ll decide whether to continue cycling or to look for a job as an engineer. Either way, she has fond memories of Schulich. 

“I really miss school,” says Sullivan. “I was in the library a couple of weeks ago and I saw a girl doing math homework and I was kind of jealous.”