Anna Meares, a determining force to reckon: Cycling News
Grit, passion, determination will power are some of the elements which are the driving force behind the success of Anna Meares. Anna is an Australian track cyclist, who has achieved much at a very younger age. She won thirteen gold, six silver and seven
bronze medals. Anna was also awarded with the first gold medal in 2004 Athens Olympics in 500 m TT.
Anna Meares was born on September 21, 1983 in Blackwater, Australia. She started her career as an inspiration and followed in footsteps of her sister. Following her older sister, Kerrie Meares, who was the two times gold medallist in 2002 Commonwealth and
two times bronze medal winner in 2006 Commonwealth, in the sport. She started competitive cycling at the age of 11. Before joining cycling, Anna also use to do karate, swimming and tennis. She joined her sisters and brother travelling from their home to Middlemount
to compete in national tournament and bring laurels back home.
In 1997, she won her first national title of under 15 time trial in Australia. Two years later, she won under 17-time trial. In 2000, she represented Australia for the first time in Sprint World Juniors in Italy and finished fifth. A year later, she progressed
and finished fourth in the same event and won the time trial in World Junior Sprints in United States. Moreover, she stood triumphant back home in Australia by winning under 19 Oceania titles, both the time trial and scratch race.
She finished with a bronze medal in sprint and ended fourth in time trails at 2002 Manchester Commonwealth games. She was awarded Australian Junior Track Cyclist of the year in 2001 in 2003 and won a silver medal at the World Championship in Germany and
finished ninth and tenth in time trial and sprint, respectively.
Anna was debutant in 2004 Athens Olympics not only clinched a gold medal in 500m time-trial and broke the world record in 33.952 seconds. Unfortunately, she injured her lower back, including two torn discs and suffered a bulging disc, during the training
camp in 2005.
Anna kept on setting new world records in 2006 Australian National Track Championships and 2007 Time Trial World Track Championship in Spain. She also won a bronze medal in sprint category in 2004 Athens Olympics.
She stood first in 500m sprint and finished second in sprint category at the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Australia.
Anna Meares suffered a life-threatening accident and career-stopping hard fall during a time trial at the 2007 World Cup in Los Angles. She fell on the solid wooden floor when she was riding at a speed of 65km per hour. She had a displaced shoulder, fractured
neck and torn ligaments. Miracle saved her from any major permanent injury. With strong will power and determination, she overcame this trauma and recovered for the qualifiers for the 2008 China Olympics, where she won a silver medal showing the people what
she is capable off.
Her career took a flight in 2009, when Anna won many titles and showed the world how determined she is in pursuing back his career of cycling. She won the gold medal in 500 m TT and Team Sprint category in 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics held in Manchester
and finished third in Keirin category.
In 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Melbourne, she won gold medals in 500m TT and Keirin, while clinching bronze in Team Sprint. In 2010 Commonwealth Games, she bagged three gold medals in 500m TT, Team Sprint and Individual Sprint.
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