Australian cyclist Anna Meares, winner of the 2004 Olympic 500-meter gold medal in track cycling, could miss a chance to defend her title due to a serious race accident.
Meares suffered a fractured neck vertebrae and dislocated shoulder in a crash during a track cycling World Cup meet in Los Angeles nine days ago.
The crash has put her Beijing Olympic selection in jeopardy and forced her out of Australian and world championship meets.
“I realize that I’m pretty lucky with the injuries that I have come away with,” Meares said Tuesday. “The C2 vertebrae, so I have been told, is the one that controls all your breathing and if that goes, so too does your life.”
Meares, who will be sidelined for about six weeks, sits fourth on the World Cup points table, with the top nine granted an Olympic berth.
With two Olympic qualification meetings to come, Meares, 24, could be surpassed by other riders _ meaning she would need an exemption from world cycling’s governing body, the UCI.
The UCI can award wild cards to riders, but only if a pre-qualified cyclist withdraws from the Olympics.
“If I miss out on points, I will have to continue training through and hope the UCI gives me that wild card,” she said.
Australian track cycling head coach Martin Barras said Meares’ Olympic selection “has been taken out of our hands”.
“Where we had control of the selection process, now we don’t anymore,” Barras said.
“Considering the severity of the injuries, we don’t want to mingle with her recovery with any sort of pressure with regards to qualifying or getting back into racing before she is fully ready _ the severity of the neck injury dictates that.”
Meares also suffered torn neck muscles, torn shoulder tendons and bruising in her fall in the kierin final in Los Angeles.
“I remember hitting my head and being in a lot of pain straight away, and the next thing that I remember was being on the bottom of the track being tended to,” she said.
“When it’s explained to you how severe the injury could have been, (I feel) fortunate to walk away with as little as I have got.”

from: chinadaily.com.cn

Theo Bos of Netherlands finished first in the men’s sprint event to contribute another gold to the country, as the Round No. 2 of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics closed here Sunday night.

On the medal rankings, the Neds ranked first with four gold medals and two bronzes. France, Great Britain and Team DSB each grabbed two golds, while China placed in the 20th position with two bronzes.

The race for gold

Theo Bos

There are 376 riders from 44 countries and regions competed in The UCI 2007-2008 Track Cycling World Cup Classics from December 7 to 9. Ten Olympic track cycling events are contested at the three-day competition, including the men’s sprint, team sprint, individual pursuit, team pursuit, Keirin, points race, Madison, and the women’s sprint, individual pursuit and points race. The winners automatically qualify for the next year’s Olympic Games, according to the qualification system.
The third leg of the world cup will be held in Log Angeles from January 18 to 20 and the fourth in Ballerup, Demark from February 15 to 17, 2008.

The race for gold

from: beijing2008.cn (more details and more pictures)