GERMANY: CYCLING - Friends, family and fellow Australian Olympic cyclists remember Amy Gillett a year after her death in a road accident

Friends, family and fellow Australian cyclists on Monday (July 17) spoke of Amy Gillett, who was killed in a road accident a year ago while training in Germany for a race. Gillett was killed on July 18, 2005 when a young woman driver hit a group of Australian cyclists who were training for the annual Tour of Thuringia in eastern Germany. Five other cyclists were injured in the accident, some of them seriously, when the group was hit by the German woman's car, which spun out of control on a country road. Kate Nicholls told a news conference in Jena on Monday (July 17): "I guess in the last twelve months racing has been something that I really enjoyed doing and it's the reason I'm back on my bike and out in the roads again and I really wanted to come here to remember Amy and you know pay my respects but I also want to come here and create some new memories and some good times and racing is one of the best times so I'm really looking forward to that." Louise Yaxley, who was seriously injured in the crash and who is in need of further operations, made an emotional statement and had to leave part-way through. "Being here is the most important issue in the sense that for the memorial, for Amy and also coming back and -- just coming back here is important," Yaxley said before she started crying and walked out. Nicholls said: "I just finished the Giro d'Italia with the new AOS team and we were very successful and we did really well but they're also very conscious of the fact, of the circumstances in which they entered the team and they're very sensitive towards that. They obviously are feeling for the girls that aren't there as well." Fellow cyclist Katie Brown remembered Amy Gillett as someone with "so much talent and she was just an amazing person". Brown added: "For myself, I'd seek to be like her and to be as good an athlete as Amy was. Her dedication was unbelievable and that's why the (Amy Gillett) foundation is very important, not only to remember her but to sort of raise awareness for motorists and cyclsists. It's really important that we learn to work together on the roads and share it." Australia's ambassador to Germany, Ian Kemish, handed out certificates of gratitude from Prime Minister John Howard to doctors at Jena university hospital who treated the injured cyclists at the time. Later on Monday, ambassador Kemish was to participate in the official opening ceremony of the 19th International Thuringia Women's Cycling Tour. At the end of the tour, the 'Amy Gillett Remembrance Award' will be handed to 'the fairest cyclist or team who live up to the legacy of Amy Gillett', the Australian embassy said in a written statement.

ITN Source | July 18, 2006

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