Wood's family to miss Olympic curtain call?
Coming up on Cyclingnews will cover the 96th Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen - 1.HC live on April 15 at...
The family of Australian cyclist Oenone Wood look set to miss the rider's Olympic Games curtain call today, as restrictions on family access to Olympic venues continues. While both the International and Beijing Olympic Committees are looking into the matter, Wood's family feels security around the time trial venue is going to be even tighter today than Sunday's road race.
Wood's family is just one of several high-profile Australian cyclists to have access issues to the Beijing circuit. Stuart O'Grady's wife was forced to watch the men's road race from her hotel room on Saturday, while Cadel Evans's wife Chiara defied security by climbed a wall to access the circuit. Similarly Wood's family had to 'make a scene' to get past two road blocks, to even be able to view the circuit.
"We are just at a dead end," Lynne Guthridge, Wood's mother, told SMH.com.au. "We saw her go past three times for about three seconds [on Sunday]. It's a long way to come...if we had stayed in Australia, we could have watched it on TV.
"If anything, they seemed to have tightened security [for the time trial]," added Guthridge.
Guthridge is one of five family members of Wood who is contesting her final Olympic Games race later today. The Australian women's road champion's 81 year-old grandmother is one of the family members that have travelled to Beijing to watch Wood's final Olympic outing.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!