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Anna Meares

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Anna Meares
Meares at the 2012 World Championships in Melbourne
Personal information
Born (1983-09-21) 21 September 1983 (age 41)
Blackwater, Queensland
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight72 kg (159 lb)
Team information
DisciplineTrack
RoleRider
Rider typeSprinter
Medal record
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens 500 m time trial
Gold medal – first place 2012 London Sprint
Silver medal – second place 2008 Beijing Sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Athens Sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2012 London Team sprint
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2004 Melbourne 500m Time Trial
Gold medal – first place 2007 Palma de Mallorca 500m Time Trial
Gold medal – first place 2009 Pruszków Team Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2010 Ballerup 500m Time Trial
Gold medal – first place 2010 Ballerup Team Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2011 Apeldoorn Team Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2011 Apeldoorn Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2011 Apeldoorn Keirin
Gold medal – first place 2012 Melbourne Keirin
Gold medal – first place 2012 Melbourne 500m Time Trial
Gold medal – first place 2015 Yvelines Keirin
Silver medal – second place 2003 Stuttgart Keirin
Silver medal – second place 2004 Melbourne Sprint
Silver medal – second place 2005 Los Angeles 500m Time Trial
Silver medal – second place 2009 Pruszków 500m Time Trial
Silver medal – second place 2012 Melbourne Team sprint
Silver medal – second place 2014 Cali 500m Time trial
Silver medal – second place 2014 Cali Keirin
Silver medal – second place 2015 Yvelines 500m time trial
Silver medal – second place 2016 London Keirin
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Los Angeles Sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Palma de Mallorca Sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Palma de Mallorca Team Sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Palma de Mallorca Keirin
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Melbourne Sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Yvelines Team sprint
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2006 Melbourne 500 m Time Trial
Gold medal – first place 2010 Delhi 500 m Time Trial
Gold medal – first place 2010 Delhi Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2010 Delhi Team Sprint
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow 500 m Time Trial
Silver medal – second place 2006 Melbourne Sprint
Silver medal – second place 2014 Glasgow Sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2002 Manchester Sprint

Anna Maree Meares OAM (born 21 September 1983) is an Australian track cyclist. She currently resides in Adelaide in South Australia where the Australian Institute of Sport's Track Cycling program has its headquarters at the Adelaide Super-Drome.

She has been the 500 metre track time trial world champion on four occasions, and a gold medalist at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.

Biography

Anna Meares started competitive cycling at the age of 11 in 1994, following her older sister Kerrie Meares into the sport. The family were inspired to take up competitive cycling by Kathy Watt winning a cycling gold medal at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. With the family living in the small Queensland coal-mining town of Middlemount, it was more than two hours drive to the nearest cycling track at Mackay for the girls to train.

2001

In 2001 Meares was awarded the Australian Junior Women's Track Cyclist of the Year.

2002

In 2002 Meares narrowly missed a bronze medal in the inaugural inclusion of the 500-metre time trial at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, while her older sister, Kerrie Meares won the gold medal in the event. She won a bronze medal in the sprint.

2004

During the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, she won a gold medal, and set a new world record in the Women's 500-metre time trial of 33.952 seconds. Meares had to beat a new Olympic record set just minutes previously by the reigning World Record holder, Yonghua Jiang of China. (See Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics). The event was abolished from the Olympic program so Meares could not defend her title in 2008. Meares also won a bronze medal in the Women's 200m Sprint event in Athens.

In May 2004 at the Time Trial World Titles in Melbourne Meares claimed the title of Women's World time trial champion, and won a silver for the sprint event. Also claimed first in the 2004 World Cup Time Trial in Sydney.

2005

In 2005, Meares enrolled in a Bachelor of Learning Design course at Central Queensland University, but deferred her studies to concentrate on sport.[1][2]

2008

Meares made an astonishing come back from a very bad cycling accident at the World Cup in January 2008 when she broke her neck. Meares crashed in the third round of the World Cup circuit in Los Angeles in January 2008, seven months out from the Olympics. Meares fractured her C2 vertebra, dislocated her right shoulder, suffered torn ligaments and tendons, a heavily bruised right hip and skin abrasions as a result of skin sliding on wood when she crashed at 65 km/h. Astonishingly she was back on the bike just 10 days after the fall and went through intensive rehabilitation. With the points Meares had secured prior to the crash, she was able to fight her way back and qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.[3] [4]

Meares at the 2008 Olympic homecoming parade in Adelaide

Meares had an eventful semi-final in the sprint at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Having lost the first heat to her opponent Guo Shuang, she won the second heat. The third heat saw Guo come down the banking too steeply and her front wheel slipped from beneath her. The heat was re-run and although Guo won by a few millimetres, she was relegated for coming down the track and pushing Meares onto the côte d'azure on the final lap. This put Meares through to the final ride-off for gold against Victoria Pendleton, where she was beaten and received the silver medal.

2012

At the 2012 World Championships which took place in Meares' home country of Australia in Melbourne, Meares was favourite for three gold medals. In the team sprint Meares' won silver as Germany set two world records in the event.[5] In qualification for the individual sprint Meares broke the World Record for the flying 200 metres. Meares completed her 4 laps in just 10.782 seconds shaving 11 thousands of a second off Simona Krupeckaite's mark.[6] In the semi final Meares faced her old rival Pendleton. Pendleton clashed with the Australian in their first heat and ended up on the floor before Meares was relegated from the second for going outside of her lane. In the decider Pendleton won in a photo finish, with Meares settling for bronze after defeating Lyubov Shulika.[7] In the keirin, Meares won both her qualifying races before reaching the final, where she held off Russian Ekaterina Gnidenko and German Kristina Vogel to win the first of two world championships in Melbourne.[8] Meares set her second world record of the championships in her final event. Meares recorded 33.010 seconds to break the record by .286 of a second which was previously held by Simona Krupeckaite. With the time Meares won her second title of the championships and equaled Felicia Ballanger's record of ten world titles.[9]

At the 2012 London Olympics, Meares qualified for the final of the sprint, where she again faced Victoria Pendleton. In the first sprint of the final, Pendleton crossed the line first, but was relegated after illegally moving off her line as the cyclists sped through the final banking. Meares won the second sprint to win 2–0 and take the gold medal. She also won a bronze medal with Kaarle McCulloch in the team sprint.

2013

In 2013, Meares set a new world record of 32.836 seconds in the women's 500m time trial at the UCI Mexico Track World Cup, making her the first woman to go under 33 seconds in the event.[10]

Awards

Meares was Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Athlete of the Year in 2007 and 2011[11] and 2011 inducted into the AIS 'Best of the Best'.[12]

The Anna Meares Bike Path adjacent to Sir Donald Bradman Drive near Adelaide Airport was named after Meares in 2012.[13]

Palmarès

2001
1st 500m TT, World Track Championships – Juniors
2002
3rd Sprint, Commonwealth Games, Manchester
2003
2nd Keirin, World Track Championships, Stuttgart
2004
1st 500m TT, World Track Championships, Melbourne
2nd Sprint, World Track Championships, Melbourne
1st Sprint, Sydney
1st 500m TT, Olympic Games
3rd Sprint, Olympic Games
2005
1st 500m TT, Australian National Track Championships, Adelaide
1st Sprint, Australian National Track Championships, Adelaide
1st Keirin, Australian National Track Championships, Adelaide
1st Sprint, Sydney
1st Keirin, Sydney
2nd 500m TT, World Track Championships, Los Angeles
3rd Sprint, World Track Championships, Los Angeles
1st Sprint, Oceania Games, Wanganui
1st 500m TT, Oceania Games, Wanganui
2006
1st Sprint, Australian National Track Championships, Adelaide
2nd Keirin, Australian National Track Championships, Adelaide
1st Sprint, Sydney
1st 500m TT, Commonwealth Games, Melbourne
2nd Sprint, Commonwealth Games, Melbourne
2nd 500m TT, World Track Championships, Bordeaux
1st 500m TT, World Cup, Sydney
1st Team Sprint, World Cup, Sydney
2007
1st 500m TT, World Track Championships, Palma de Mallorca – New World Record
3rd Team Sprint, World Track Championships, Palma de Mallorca
3rd Sprint, World Track Championships, Palma de Mallorca
3rd Keirin, World Track Championships, Palma de Mallorca
1st Sprint, World Cup, Los Angeles
2nd Team Sprint, World Cup, Los Angeles
1st 500m TT, Australian National Track Championships, Sydney
1st Team Sprint, Australian National Track Championships, Sydney
2nd Sprint, Australian National Track Championships, Sydney
1st Keirin, Australian National Track Championships, Sydney
3rd Sprint, World Cup, Manchester
3rd Team Sprint, World Cup, Manchester
1st Sprint, Oceania Cycling Championships, Invercargill
2nd Sprint, Sydney
1st 500m TT, Sydney
2008
2nd Sprint, Olympic Games
2009
1st 500m TT, 2009–2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Manchester
1st Team Sprint (with Kaarle McCulloch), 2009–2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Manchester
3rd Keirin, 2009–2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Manchester
1st 500m TT, 2009–2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Melbourne
1st Keirin, 2009–2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Melbourne
3rd Team Sprint, 2009–2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Melbourne
2010
1st 500m TT, 2009–10 UCI Track Cycling World Ranking
1st Team sprint, 2009–10 UCI Track Cycling World Ranking
1st 500m TT, Commonwealth Games
1st Team Sprint, Commonwealth Games
1st Individual Sprint, Commonwealth Games
2011
1st 500m TT, 2010–11 UCI Track Cycling World Ranking
1st Keirin, 2010–11 UCI Track Cycling World Ranking
2012
1st Keirin World Track Championships, Melbourne
1st 500M TT World Track Championships, Melbourne (33.010sec world record)
3rd Sprint World Track Championships, Melbourne (Qualifying 10.782sec world record)
3rd Team Sprint, Olympic Games
1st Sprint, Olympic Games[14]
2014
2nd Time trial Track World Championships
1st 500M TT, Commonwealth Games
2nd Sprint, Commonwealth Games
2015
1st Keirin, World Track Championships, Yvelines

Sponsorship

Anna Meares is currently sponsored by Uvex safety[15] and Toshiba[16]

References

  1. ^ "New crop in circle thanks to Uni-hosted talent ID". CQUniNews. CQUniversity Australia. 24 October 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  2. ^ "Our Anna is off to Beijing". CQUniNews. CQUniversity Australia. 1 April 2008. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  3. ^ "Anna Meares: I'm lucky, but disappointed". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 19 August 2008.
  4. ^ "Anna Meares: Back from the brink to chase more gold". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
  5. ^ "Union Cycliste Internationale". Uci.ch. 24 January 2008.
  6. ^ "2012 UCI Track World Championships » Women's Sprint". 2012trackworlds.com.au.
  7. ^ "Track Worlds: Victoria Pendleton wins sprint gold despite crash". BBC Sport. BBC. 6 April 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  8. ^ "Union Cycliste Internationale". Uci.ch. 24 January 2008.
  9. ^ cycling (8 April 2012). "2012 UCI Track World Championships » Second world record for Aussie golden girl Meares, Australia finish world champs on top". 2012trackworlds.com.au.
  10. ^ http://www.news-mail.com.au/news/world-record-again-anna-meares-cycling/2108732/
  11. ^ AIS Athlete of the Year
  12. ^ Australian Institute of Sport 'Best of the Best'
  13. ^ "New $900k bike path skirting Adelaide Airport is named after Anna Meares". Weekly Times Messenger. News Limited. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  14. ^ "Victoria Pendleton loses to Anna Meares in last ever race". Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  15. ^ "uvex safety group – AU". Uvex-safety.com.au. 18 April 2012.
  16. ^ "Anna Meares: I'm sponsored by Toshiba". The Age. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anna Meares.

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Australian Athlete of the Year
2007 (with Nathan Deakes)
2011 		Succeeded by
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