At the world championships, 2008 |
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Wendy Louise Houvenaghel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 27 November 1974 United Kingdom |
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| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 60 kg (130 lb; 9.4 st)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Team Sky / Bike Chain Ricci | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Track | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rider type | Pursuit / Time-trialist | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amateur team(s) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| -2004 | Camel Valley Cycling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Professional team(s) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005–2007 2008–2009 2010– |
Science in Sport.com Team Halfords Bikehut[2] Team Sky Bike Chain Ricci[3] |
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| Major wins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| Infobox last updated on 24 March 2011 |
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Wendy Louise Houvenaghel (born Wendy Louise McLean, 27 November 1974) is a British racing cyclist from Upperlands, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland,[4] riding on both the road and track, but specialising in the latter. She has represented the United Kingdom in various World Cycling Championships and in the 2008 Olympic Games, most notably winning the Silver medal at the Beijing Olympic Games, and Gold in the team pursuit at the 2008, 2009 and 2011 Track World Championships. She has also won many British national titles and represented England at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and Northern Ireland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Houvenaghel is based in Cornwall, England.[4]
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Houvenaghel grew up in Upperlands near Maghera. She went to Ampertaine County Primary School in Upperlands and Rainey Endowed Grammar School in Magherafelt. At the Rainey she was a very bright student who was also interested in horse riding, hockey and cross country running, most notably not cycling. She studied Dentistry at the University of Dundee where she met her husband. After qualifying, she became a Dentist in the Royal Air Force, commissioned as a Flight Lieutenant on a Short Service Commission on 6 August 1998,[5] and promoted to Squadron Leader on 6 August 2003.[6] Completing her commission in August 2004, Wendy took up a part time post at a local dental surgery to help fund her ambitions as a cyclist. She was fast tracked onto the Olympic Podium Plan by the British Cycling Federation in June 2006 with the aim of medalling at the Beijing Olympic Games in August 2008.
Houvenaghel took part in a cycling race against the clock in September 2002, with no cycling experience and became the National Circuit Time Trial Champion the following year. She was selected for the GB National squad in 2003 to compete at the World Time Trial Championships in Canada. Prior to this, she had competed in time trials within the UK for the amateur club Camel Valley. She continued her collection of National time trial titles in 2004, going on to win all British time-trials that she competed in during 2005, and continued in her success throughout 2006. In October 2005, Houvenaghel won her first 3 km Individual Pursuit National Track title which was soon followed up by two World Cup wins, aged 31.[7] [8]
Focusing on the track, she became the overall World Cup Champion in 2005/6 and made her GB World Track Championships debut in Bordeaux ranking a very creditable 5th. She competed for England on both the track and the road at the Commonwealth Games after being turned down for the Northern Ireland team by the Northern Ireland Cycling Federation.[8] She retained her 3 km Individual Pursuit National title in 2006, and World Cup Champions title in 2006/7. She went one better to finish fourth in the 2007 World Championships, the following year in Majorca. Just prior to 2008 season, Houvenaghel declared that her focus would be on the 3 km Pursuit Track World Championships and 2008 Olympic Games. During the Track World Championships in Manchester, after inconsistent winter training, she was a part of the gold medal winning women's Team Pursuit. Having also set a promising pb, ranking 4th in the Individual Pursuit, her potential to participate successfully at the Olympic Games was evident. On 15 August 2008 Houvenaghel qualified fastest in the qualification round of the Women's 3000m pursuit at the Beijing Olympics and went on to win the silver medal in the final, losing out on the gold to her team mate by 2 seconds. She won silver again in the same event at the 2009 Track World Championships in Poland, losing the final by 2 seconds after beating her opponent in the qualifying heats. She retained her World Championship title in the Women's Team Pursuit by qualifying fastest during the qualification ride and winning the final.[9] Houvenaghel's Individual Pursuit event has been replaced by her Team Pursuit event for the Olympic Games in London in 2012, a decision which was ratified by the IOC and UCI mid December 2009.
Having become the World Championship and Commonwealth Games Silver Medallist in 2010, the Individual Pursuit National Champion turned her focus and attention to the Team Pursuit Olympic event for the 2010/11 track season. The experienced, phenomenally talented and reliable rider was instrumental in guiding a number of new riders to the discipline of Team Pursuiting to both the European and World Championship Titles in the 2010/11 track season, finishing the season ranked as World Number One in the UCI World rankings. Houvenaghel's recent World Championship title takes her total to three in the discpiline of Team Pursuiting to date.