Six months ago, Catherine Cheatley lay on a surgeon's table wondering if she would be able to ride at all in 2008. Yesterday, she was named in the New Zealand Olympic team for Beijing.
The 25-year-old Invercargill-based cyclist underwent a crucial operation to solve a movement-restricting circulation problem
in her left thigh.
After coming back more quickly than expected, she has returned to form with her US Cheerwine road racing team and earned a place in the Olympic points race. Cheatley was one of six named in the team yesterday.
Tour de France competitor Julian Dean was confirmed as a starter in the road race, alongside Tim Gudsell and Glenn Chadwick in the men's road relay. Jo Kiesanowski will line up in the women's road race, while Peter Latham has been included in the men's team pursuit squad.
Kiesanowski may yet be joined in the road race by either or both of Cheatley and mountain bike rider Rosara Joseph, depending on the outcome of an appeal to cycling's world body, the UCI. New Zealand had initially earned enough points in international qualifying races to have three riders in the women's road race.
But New Zealand lost ranking points in two events which the UCI recently downgraded because they decided there hadn't been enough international competition.
Bike NZ high performance director Mark Elliott said a decision on the appeal was expected within the next few days. If the appeal was not successful, Elliott said he was confident Kiesanowski was more than capable of pushing towards the front of the peloton on her own anyway.
Rotorua-born Dean, who finished a hard-fought 15th in the tough Athens race, said he was honoured to be going to his fourth Olympics.
"I've completed my plan for the Olympics and hope that the Tour de France really sets me up well for Beijing which will be a really tough test."
Elliott said with the full cycling team named now he was excited by the mix of youth and experience. Top prospects include BMX rider Sarah Walker, and the track squad.
