Dean Woods

Dean Woods

Personal information
Full name	Dean Anthony Woods
Nickname	Woodsy
Born	22 June 1966 Wangaratta, Australia
Height	184 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	90 kg (200 lb)
Team information
Discipline	Track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Pursuit
Amateur team(s)
8	2
Professional team(s)
9	3
Medal record Track cycling Representing  Australia Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Team pursuit 1988 Seoul Individual pursuit 1988 Seoul Team pursuit 1996 Atlanta Team pursuit

Dean Anthony Woods, OAM^[1] (born 22 June 1966) is an Australian racing cyclist from Wangaratta in Victoria known for his track cycling at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games. On Australia Day 1985 he was awarded the Order of Australia medal for service to cycling. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.^[2]

At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles Woods, with team mates Michael Grenda, Kevin Nichols, and Michael Turtur, won the 4000m team pursuit.^[3] Critics did not give them much chance. The team was coached by Charlie Walsh and dubbed Charlie's Angels. In the final the Australians defeated the USA by 3.86 seconds, even though the Australians were riding conventional bikes while the Americans had high-tech machines. Woods told The Border Mail in 2004, "Expectations weren't high for us from the press, but we thought we would do pretty well. We had a close team."

In the 4000m individual pursuit Woods was beaten for bronze by Leonard Nitz (USA).

In the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul Wayne McCarney, Stephen McGlede, Scott McGrory, Brett Dutton and Woods won the bronze medal for the team pursuit, defeated by the USSR (gold) and German Democratic Republic (silver). In the individual pursuit Woods won the silver medal.

Woods won a bronze medal in the team pursuit in the 1996 Summer Olympics. At the 1986 Commonwealth Games he won the individual pursuit event. In the Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic Woods set the record of 5h 12m in 1990.

Woods established and worked at a bicycle shop, Dean Woods Direct, at Wangaratta but has since sold it.

References

1. It's an Honour Website
2. AIS Athletes at the Olympics
3. "Dean Woods Olympic Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved 31 May 2015.