Rebecca Twigg

Rebecca Twigg (born March 26, 1963) is an American former racing cyclist, who won six world track cycling championships in the individual pursuit. She also won 16 US championships (the first – the individual time trial – when she was 18) and two Olympic medals, the silver medal in the 1984 road race in Los Angeles, and a bronze medal in the pursuit in Barcelona in 1992.[1]

Rebecca Twigg
Twigg at the 1999 Women's Challenge
Personal information
Full nameRebecca Twigg
Born (1963-03-26) March 26, 1963
Seattle, Washington, United States
Team information
DisciplineRoad and track
RoleRider

Twigg won the first three editions of the Women's Challenge on the road. She trained at the University of Washington in Seattle beginning at the age of 14 and met personal coach Eddie Borysewicz three years later.[2]

Twigg was a three-time Olympian (1984, 1992, and 1996). However, her final Olympic appearance, in Atlanta in 1996, ended in controversy when she quit the team in a disagreement with the coach Chris Carmichael and the U.S. Cycling Federation. The federation had invested in the development of the so-called SuperBike. Twigg, after using the bike earlier in the Games, refused to ride it, citing poor individual fit and claiming that pressure from the staff on her to use the SuperBike and their refusal to grant accreditation to her personal coach, Eddie Borysewicz, left her defocused.[3]

Post-cycling life

After retiring from competitive cycling, Twigg earned an associate degree in computer science and worked at various jobs in the information technology industry. [4] She married twice, having a daughter with her second husband. She later quit her jobs and became homeless while staying in Seattle, and as of 2019 has been homeless for the past five years. Her first personal encounter with homelessness occurred when she was 15 years old and was kicked out of her house by her mother.[2]

Palmarès
1982
1st UCI Track Cycling World Championships (individual pursuit)
1st U.S. National Time Trial Championships
3rd United States National Road Race Championships
1983
3rd Coors Classic
1984
1st UCI Track Cycling World Championships (individual pursuit)
1st United States National Road Race Championships
1st Women's Challenge
1985
1st UCI Track Cycling World Championships (individual pursuit)
1st Women's Challenge
1986
2nd UCI Track Cycling World Championships (individual pursuit)
1st Women's Challenge
1987
1st UCI Track Cycling World Championships (individual pursuit)
1993
1st UCI Track Cycling World Championships (individual pursuit)
1st U.S. National Time Trial Championships
1994
1st U.S. National Time Trial Championships
1995
1st UCI Track Cycling World Championships (individual pursuit)
1997
3rd U.S. National Time Trial Championships

References
  1. "Rebecca Twigg Olympic Results". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  2. Greenstone, Scott (April 15, 2019). "What an Olympic medalist, homeless in Seattle, wants you to know". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  3. Stapleton, Arnie (July 31, 1996). "Best U.S. Cyclist Quits Team". The Washington Post.
  4. "Free Wheeling Rebecca Twigg Has Never Pedaled With the Pack, And She Doesn't Plan To Start Now". Sports Illustrated. July 22, 1996. Archived from the original on November 23, 2019. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
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