Born Perth, Western Australia
9 March 1982
Ryan Bayley is a deserving inductee, and a champion of Western Australian cycling.
Ryan Bayley emerged from the 2004 Athens Games as the only Australian cyclist ever to have won two individual Olympic gold medals.
Born in Perth on March 9, 1982, Bayley was a late comer to track cycling having switched from BMX at age 15. Bayley won a world championship in Belgium in 2001 in the keirin before claiming the individual and team sprint double at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games. He would later repeat his dual gold feat at Commonwealth level winning the individual sprint and keirin titles in Melbourne in 2006, to reinforce his status as a great of Australian track cycling.
Bayley’s lasting legacy however, was formed in Athens. Trailing world champion Theo Bos in the individual sprint best of three Olympic final, he produced a stirring ride to claim the second heat by mere millimetres before winning gold after passing Bos in the final turn of the deciding heat.
If his first gold was tense, his second paid testament to his explosive speed, with Bayley launching a daring early sprint in the men’s keirin final, to decimate the field and secure his second gold of the Games.