Olympic gold medallist Kathy Watt in will stoush over modest inheritance

Olympic cycling gold medallist Kathy Watt is challenging her mother’s will — which leaves the lion’s share to her aunts — as she seeks a more generous cut of the estate.

Kathy Watt in training shortly before the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada.

Australian cycling great and Olympic gold medallist Kathy Watt is challenging her mother’s will and has launched legal action seeking a more generous cut of her estate.

Watt, referred to as Kathryn in court documents, filed a claim against the estate of her mother Kathleen Anne Wheller, in the Victorian Supreme Court in late April after she was left a modest gift of $5000, a necklace, a diamond brooch and an opal brooch in the will.

The estate was valued at around $524,000. The remainder of the estate was to be divided equally between her sisters Kylie, Rachel and Belinda.

Ms Wheller passed away in July 2024. Kylie Watt is listed as executor of the estate.

Watt with the gold and silver medals she won at the 1992 Barcelona games.

In an originating motion filed on Watt’s behalf by her lawyer, it is claimed that the “provision made for the plaintiff in the will is inadequate for her proper maintenance and support.”

It states that Watt had “supported the deceased for a time and had a close and loving relationship with the deceased and the deceased frequently stayed with the plaintiff for periods of time.

“All of the remaining three residuary beneficiaries are all in superior financial circumstances to the plaintiff.”

Watt was left a modest $5000 from her mother’s estate.

Watt is asking the court to provide her with “reasonable provision for proper maintenance and support” from her mother’s estate.

Watt was one of Australia’s most celebrated Olympic cyclists, winning gold in the road race for women at the games in Barcelona in 1992.

She also collected a silver medal in the individual pursuit at the Barcelona Olympics.

Watt added a Commonwealth Games gold medal to her trophy cabinet when she won the women’s road race in Auckland in 1990. She won three more gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Canada in 1994 in the 3000m individual pursuit, the road race and the team time trial.

She was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2012.

Kathy Watt was contacted for comment. A legal representative for Kylie Watt declined to comment.