Australian star Anna Meares retires from cycling
Sunday 16 October 2016 10:14, UK
Australian rider Anna Meares has confirmed her retirement from cycling.
The six-time Olympic medallist and 11-time world champion has officially called time on her track career at the age of 33 and just a couple of months after claiming a bronze medal in the keirin event at the Rio Games.
Meares has lived and competed in pain since breaking her neck in a horrific track crash in Los Angeles in January 2008 and she needed six cortisone injections in her spine just to compete in Rio.
"Having had to change tack for six months leading into Rio and to achieve the things I have, I feel satisfied and happy to step aside from the sport and try something new and different," she said.
"I am really proud I have stuck around for as long as I have.
"I have been challenged extensively throughout my career and I feel that I have grown with each experience and they have left me a better athlete, a better person."
Meares fractured a neck vertebra in the track crash in LA and it was later was discovered that if the crack in her vertebra had been two millimetres longer, she could have been killed or left a quadriplegic.
However, she went from a wheelchair to winning an Olympic silver medal in the sprint in Beijing - finishing second to Victoria Pendleton - just seven months later.
Meares won six medals in total - two gold - at four Olympics and her record 11 world championship titles among a career total of 27 medals is the most all-time by a female track cyclist.
She is the only rider to wear rainbow jerseys in all four sprint disciplines.
Meares is also the only female cyclist to have posted world record times in all three timed sprint events for a career tally of eight records and was the first woman to break the 34 and 33-second barriers in the 500m time trial.
Cycling Australia chief executive Nick Green said: "Anna's contribution to the sport of cycling is immeasurable, and whether on or off the bike, Anna exemplified the utmost professionalism and respect for the sport and her peers.
"Her results at Olympic, World Championship and Commonwealth level are second to none and are a tribute to her hard work, dedication and commitment to excellence.
"Also the resilience shown by Anna as she faced repeated challenges throughout her career epitomised her strength of character and truly inspired the nation."
