Melissa's Story
Melissa Hoskins began cycling after being picked up as a part of the WAIS Talent Identification Program at the age of 15 and within three years had become an Australian Champion. In the lead up to the London 2012 Games she teamed up with Annette Edmondson and Josephine Tomic to break the world record in the semi-final at the 2012 World Championships. The record only lasted a few minutes as the British team broke the new record in their semi-final before going on to beat Australia in the final.
With her sights set on going one better at the Olympics, Hoskins, Edmondson and Tomic qualified third in the preliminary round in London. They were then beaten into the gold medal ride by a United States team just 0.082 seconds quicker than the Aussies, sending Hoskins and company into the bronze medal race against Canada. Further heartbreak followed as the team in green and gold was edged out of the bronze medal spot by just 0.181 seconds.
After finishing on the World Championships podium in 2013 and 2014, Hoskins made history in 2015 alongside Annette Edmondson, Amy Cure and Ashlee Ankudinoff as the quartet won World Championship gold and broke the world record.
After a disrupted preparation to Rio which included a bout of pneumonia, a crash in training at the Rio Games cruelled the Aussies chances of pushing for a podium finish. Hoskins was hospitalised and despite being on crutches jumped on the bike for both qualifying and the first round. With Australia out of medal contention she sat out the race for fifth and sixth which the Aussies won.
