Leontine Martha Henrica Petronella van Moorsel (born 22 March 1970 in Boekel

Boekel

Boekel is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands.-External links:**...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

) is a former Dutch racing cyclist.

Van Moorsel started her career in the late 1980s and was soon one of the best cyclists in the world. She won major races both on the track

Track cycling

Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using track bicycles....

, and on the road

Road bicycle racing

Road bicycle racing is a bicycle racing sport held on roads, using racing bicycles. The term "road racing" is usually applied to events where competing riders start simultaneously with the winner being the first to the line at the end of the course .Historically, the most...

. In the first half of the 1990s, she won the Tour Féminin

Grande Boucle

The Grande Boucle, formerly known as the Tour Cycliste Féminin, or simply Tour Féminin, is one of the Grand Tours of women's cycle races. Grande Boucle means "great loop" and describes the individual stages which form a circuit around France....

 twice, after fierce competition with Jeannie Longo

Jeannie Longo

Jeannie Longo is a French racing cyclist, multiple French champion and 13 times world champion. Longo is still active in cycling as of 2011 and is widely considered one of the greatest female cyclists of all time...

.

Van Moorsel dropped out of cycling in 1994 with depression and anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...

, but recovered to compete at the world championships in 1998, winning the time trial and coming second in the road race.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics

2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

 in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, van Moorsel won gold medals on the road (road race and time trial), and on the track (3 km pursuit). At the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

, she fell in the penultimate lap of the road race, but successfully defended her time trial title. With four gold, one silver, and a bronze Olympic medal, van Moorsel is one of the most successful Dutch athletes ever.

She retired from professional cycling after the 2004 Olympics.

Major results

1990

World champion 5km pursuit

World champion 50km team time trial

1991

World champion road race

1992

Tour Feminin

1993

World champion road race

Tour Feminin

1998

World champion time trial

1999

World champion time trial

2000

Olympic champion road race

Olympic champion time trial

Olympic champion 3km pursuit

Olympic silver medallist points race

2001

World champion 3km pursuit

2002

World champion 3km pursuit

2003

World champion 3km pursuit

World hour record: 46,06511 km

2004

Olympic champion time trial

Olympic bronze medallist 3km pursuit

Awards