Coach Charlie Walsh honoured in cycling’s hall of fame

ADELAIDE coach Charlie Walsh is one of 12 inaugural inductees in Cycling Australia’s first hall of fame.

Legendary Australian cycling coach Charlie Walsh. Picture: Calum Robertson

ADELAIDE cycling coach Charlie Walsh, who oversaw a golden era in the sport and helped deliver AustraliaÂ’s first Olympic team pursuit title, was last night honoured by Cycling Australia in Melbourne.

Walsh was among 12 inaugural inductees into CA’s Hall of Fame having spent two decades from 1980 to 2000 coaching at the highest level.

He was South Australian Sports Institute’s head cycling coach from 1985-87 and Australia’s track cycling coach for six Olympics from Moscow in 1980 to Sydney in 2000.

His crowning moment was coaching Australia’s four-man pursuit team of Dean Woods, Kevin Nichols, Michael Grenda and Mike Turtur to gold in Los Angeles in 1984.

“That’s probably the highlight, while there were others, it was the situation and conditions that made it pretty special,” Walsh said.

“The other thing that really existed in that group was the team, they responded unconditionally to whatever we asked them to do.

“It was that team and support of each other and if something needed to be done we did it as a team.”

Walsh, 74, who lives at Para Vista and still rides his bike and plays golf regularly, said his hall of fame induction was a reward for everyone involved in the sport during his time.

“It’s really a recognition of a whole group of people in terms of the staffing and it started at the top with Ray Godkin, he gave me the opportunity to do the job and supported me as best he could,” Walsh said.

“When you look back on it some of the relationships you had with people — I’ve seen some champions really produce what they had then others with challenges and the way they went about it is something you sit back and admire.”

The other inaugural inductees last night were Sir Hubert Opperman, Russell Mockridge, Edgar Gray, Sid Patterson, Phil Anderson, Kathy Watt, Anna Wilson, Robbie McEwen, Sara Carrigan, Ray Godkin and Gerry Ryan.

Cyclists need to be retired for two years before they can be considered for entry into the Hall of Fame.

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