OLYMPIAN FEELS ‘LUCKY’ AFTER BIKE ACCIDENT
WELSH Olympic cyclist Ciara Horne feels lucky to be alive after being knocked off her bike by a car on her morning commute. Ciara was riding from her home in Cardiff to her work as a physiotherapist at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital near Llantrisant when the accident happened on Thursday.
She was taken to hospital after the incident in Talbot Green.
The 27-year-old, reserve rider as Great Britain won Olympic gold in the four-rider four-kilometres team pursuit in Rio, fears she suffered a fractured wrist in the accident.
“I got off incredibly lucky,” said Horne, who won Track World Championship bronze in the team pursuit in London last year.
“It’s quite a shock. It has given me a bit of a fright.
Horne will have an MRI scan on a suspected fracture of the scaphoid – a wrist bone – tomorrow.
After the accident, she shared a picture of her injuries on Twitter say- ing, “As the slogan goes; PLEASE Think Once, Think Twice, Think Bike... Please retweet to raise awareness.”
She then thanked everyone for all the get well soon messages, saying she “really appreciated” every single one of them.
Horne has stepped away from British Cycling in Manchester to work full-time as a physiotherapist at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.
She was preparing to give a presentation on Thursday, but instead was taken to the hospital by ambulance after being knocked down on her morning commute.
Police are involved following the incident, which happened at around 7.40am.
Speaking about the incident, she said: “I remember hitting the side of the car, in the window area, and wit- nesses have said I went straight across the windscreen.
“I landed the other side and felt my head spinning. I thought I’d fractured my jaw.”
Her boyfriend, Lewis Oliva, is a medical student and a sprint cyclist.
Oliva, like Horne, is funded by Welsh Cycling. He will shortly be travelling to this month’s Track World Championships in Hong Kong as part of the British team.
Horne, who is now track training in Newport under Wales head coach Darren Tudor, remains focused on a full recovery, with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics her major target.
She also hopes to compete in the team pursuit at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Wales – with Olympic champion Elinor Barker and a number of emerging talented riders like Manon Lloyd, Emily Nelson and Amy Roberts – could be among the favourites on the Gold Coast. “I’m very, very lucky,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of support.”