Rebecca Twigg
SIX TIME WORLD TRACK CHAMPION
We will never know what Beryl might have achieved had women been allowed to compete in Olympic cycling events during her career. It was not until 1984 that the Games held the first women’s cycling event, a road race. Its edge-ofthe-seat finish showed what the crowds had been missing until then, as favourite Jeannie Longo of France crashed out in the final breakaway.
The US’s Rebecca Twigg, an indomitable track sprinter, seemed guaranteed gold until fellow American Connie Carpenter-Phinney snatched it from her in the final moments by throwing her bike over the line, winning by a couple of inches. Rebecca may have gone home with silver, but she went on to set numerous world records, win world titles and another Olympic medal. Prodigiously talented, she went to university aged only 14 and started racing in the senior category at the national women’s pursuit championships before she was 18 years old.
After a mid-career hiatus, she was lured back to bike racing when the 3000m women’s pursuit was added to the 1992 Olympics. She achieved bronze with just nine months of training. In 1995 she set another world record in the same event at the World Championships in Bogota - only a short time after breaking her collarbone. This was her fifth time as individual pursuit world champion. Rebecca’s final Olympics in 1996 was mired in controversy when she quit the team after a disagreement with her coach. She retired the following year.
As [Beryl Burton] overtook the lead man, Mike McNamara, she offered him a Liquorice Allsort. It took two years for another man to beat her distance...