The Australian Olympic and world champion track cyclist, Stephen
Courtney Upshaw Youth Jersey Wooldridge, has died aged 39. Born in Sydney, Wooldridge won gold in the 4,000m team pursuit at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and claimed four world titles in the same discipline. He was inducted into the NSW Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. Cycling New South Wales said in a statement it was “deeply saddened” by the loss of an “outstanding pursuiter”. “Stephen was an inspirational figure in track cycling, particularly in his home state of NSW,” the statement said. Phill Bates, the president of the St George Cycling Club and a life member of Cycling Australia, mentored Wooldridge throughout his career and said he was somebody “quite special”. “He was such a likeable guy who did much for the sport of cycling both on and off the pushbike,” Bates told Guardian Australia. Bates said Wooldridge had had to deal with some personal issues over the years but always “had a smile” and was “happy-go-lucky”. “He was such an infectious guy,” Bates said. “He’d walk into the room and light it up ... He really belied the fact that he was such a great champion. He was just a genuine guy and was interested in talking to anyone.” After retiring from cycling, Wooldridge pursued a career in the tertiary education sector, mainly with the University of NSW, and held various roles with Cycling Australia and Oceania Cycling Confederation boards and committees. He was also an ambassador for Ride for Life, contributed to building a cancer
http://www.footballpanthershop.com/Derek_Anderson_Jersey_Cheapsurvivors centre at the Prince of Wales hospital and was chairman of the Cyclists Commission. “All these incredible things he did over a period of time made him something quite special,” said Bates. “He’ll be remembered most for the fact he was able to show everyone you could race a pushbike, achieve national honours, undertake university studies in a very difficult engineering degree, go on and win world, Olympic and Commonwealth titles, and be one of the all-time greats of the sport. “It’s just amazing what he has been able to achieve. Mixing all of that having raised a family and everything else that goes with that life. “He’ll be well remembered for his achievements but also for a genuine approach on and off his bike and for his personality.” Wooldridge is survived by his 10-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter, his former wife and his current partner. ? In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Hotlines in other countries can be found hereThe former world 400m record holder Michael Johnson has urged the public not to get carried away with Britain’s late haul of medals at the world championships and says he is concerned that athletics is not doing enough to justify its ?27m investment from UK Sport. The British team won five medals in 24 hours on the final Saturday and Sunday night, four of them in the relays, to ensure they finished with six overall. That also meant they scraped inside the UK Sport target of six to eight, and ended up in sixth place in the medal table. World
Devontae Booker Womens Jersey Athletics Championships 2017 review: our writers’ awards and hopes Read more However Johnson, who is a BBC pundit, urged the public not to be fooled given that Mo Farah was the only individual medal winner and the relays in track and field are widely considered to be low-hanging fruit. He tweeted: “Four thrilling relay medals. Only one individual medalist, Mo Farah. He’s retiring. ?27m investment. I’d be concerned.” He added: “I’m not comparing GB to US, but to countries like South Africa, Poland, and France who don’t have nearly the resources of GB.” Daley Thompson, Britain’s back-to-back Olympic-gold-winning decathlete, also sounded a cautionary note, warning: “I hope we don’t allow the magnificent relays results to paper over the cracks.” Thompson did not elaborate, but many inside the sport are critical about the lack of funding for coaches outside the system as well as British Athletics’ policy of taking athletes from coaches and bringing them to a central hub in Loughborough. There are also concerns about whether those at the of the top of British Athletics, and especially the chief executive, Niels de Vos, are doing well enough when it comes to selling the sport to the public and sponsors. However, the performance director, Neil Black, has dismissed suggestions that his team got out of jail in London – and has insisted the relay medals were not cheap successes. “If you could see and feel the blood, sweat and tears that go into the relays, they are certainly not cheap medals,” he said. “We don’t look at it that way at all. Mo Farah takes world 5,000m silver to fall short of a farewell double Read more “We have made a massive investment in the relay programme and boldly said we believe we can win medals in all four relays. We probably didn’t think it was going to happen as quickly as this. But we are not surprised.” However, Black did admit he had been worried on Saturday night when his team had only one medal and the knives were being sharpened for his job. “I was aware that people would be saying all sorts of things,” he said. “That’s cool. Say what you want. Do what you want. We’ll carry on performing and that’s where the motivation comes from. “But we were massively confident. The relays have come up trumps, Mo came up trumps. And we can all see a group of young people who have stepped up, gone so close and are ready to step up in the future.” Black mentioned Kyle Langford, who came fourth in the 800m, Reece Prescod, who was seventh in the 100m final, and Dina Asher-Smith, who won a relay medal two months after returning from breaking a foot as being potential stars. “Dina excited the hell out of me,” he added. “That was just an outrageous performance all things considered. Kyle has untapped potential – he’s like Mo. Reece has so much potential it’s unbelievable. Once he gets the technical aspect of his start further developed and improved, he’s going to be a serious individual competitor and part of our relay team going forward. “Callum Hawkins excites me as well. That guy was so close. There is so much potential there. They’ve all got it without doubt.” Black does not set medal targets but said the plan for Doha in 2019 was
http://www.jetsofficialsonline.com/Darrelle_Revis_Jersey_Cheapto do better than in London. “The plan is progress these athletes,” he said. “We expect more individual medals and more relay medals
