Audrey McElmury

Audrey McElmury, born Audrey Phleger ( born January 24, 1943 in La Jolla, California, † March 23, 2013 in West Yellowstone, Montana ) was an American cyclist who ( in ) became the first (r ) Amerikeraner the world road championship.

Cycling career

Audrey McElmury initially exerted the surf sports. After she had in 1960 while a broken leg, she turned to cycling. Since there was hardly any road race for women at that time, she was training on the velodrome and won in 1964, the Californian track championship.

Their first World Cup went McElmury in Rome in 1968; she was five. The following year, the UCI Road World Championships for amateurs took place in Brno ( Czechoslovakia). Since the U.S. Cycling Federation could not pay travel costs for three starters, McElmury paid them ourselves

The date for the World Championships collided with the first anniversary of the invasion of the Eastern bloc countries in Czechoslovakia: Soviet tanks in the streets, armed soldiers were patrolling, and the roadside spectators cheered the American athlete euphoric.

Surprisingly, it was Audrey Elmury world champion, becoming the first U.S. world champion, man or woman, in road cycling, and the first world cycling champion of the United States since 1912, when Frank Kramer sprint world champion had become on the web. For the officials in Brno the surprise was so great that it took half an hour, until you had found a tape with the American national anthem. In their home country McElmurys success came almost on resonance.

Professional

Audrey McElmury studied zoology at the University of California at San Diego, but worked after the end of their active time (1970 ) as a trainer in Boulder. This activity she gave up after a fall. She is now married to his second wife with the cyclist Michael Lovans; she co-authored the book Bicycle Training for Triathletes.

Honors

Audrey McElmury was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1989.