EDMONDSON Annette

General
RIO CRASH
She was part of the Australian team pursuit squad that went into the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro as one of the favourites for the gold medal. However, the team were involved in a serious crash during training just two days before the competition was due to start. Edmondson was the only member of the team to escape unscathed from the crash, with the other four members of the squad all sustaining injuries. The team went on to compete at the Games and eventually placed fifth. "When dreaming of Rio, I never set my sights on anything other than the podium, for both my events. It wasn't, 'Will I get a medal?' but rather, 'Which colour will it be?' Unfortunately, the universe dealt us some tricky cards, and that's the simplicity of it. We made a mistake as a team, and paid for it, with four or five riders horizontally sprawled out across the track, halfway through one of our final race-pace efforts." (olympics.com.au, 20 Mar 2020; annetteedmondson.com, 18 Sep 2016)

BREAK FROM TRACK
She took a break from track cycling for the majority of 2017 after losing her motivation for the sport. She focused on road cycling, but returned to the track at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, where she won a gold medal and a bronze medal. "I needed some variation. I know there are others in this world who can stick to one thing, year after year, but I'm not like that. I need change." (annetteedmondson.com, 21 Apr 2019, 01 Feb 2017)