Audrey McElmury

Audrey McElmury (born Audrey Phleger, January 24, 1943 in Northampton, Massachusetts – March 26, 2013 in Bozeman, Montana) was the first American cyclist to win the Road World Championship. She won in Brno, Czechoslovakia in 1969, having fallen and remounted her bike. Hers was the United States' first world cycling championship since Frank Kramer won the professional sprint race in 1912 and the first ever in road cycling. She won the Californian cycling championship in 1964, riding on velodromes because there was no other racing for women. She trained with men on the road, getting up at 4.30am for the first of two daily rides. She said the regime ended her marriage.

Cycling career McElmury rode the world championship in Imola in 1968 and finished fifth in a race that ended in a sprint. She was picked again for the championship in Czechoslovakia the following year. The American cycling federation did not have the money to pay all the fares for the three women.

The races were held on the anniversary of the Soviet Union's occupation of the country after the Prague Spring. The cycling historian Peter Nye wrote: Tanks were everywhere, up and down every street, and soldiers were armed with machine guns. The Czechs were anti-communist and pro-American.; they cheered the U.S. riders wildly in the races and booed the Russians. When the Russians won, the Czechs even walked out of the medal ceremonies.

When McElmury returned to the USA, a local television reporter wanted to know less about her world championship than the anniversary of the Russian invasion. based on their coaching. Audrey is featured in a chapter devoted to her in the track cycling reference "NO BRAKES! Bicycle Track Racing in the United States" published in 1996.

McElmury was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1989. Her World Champion 1969 Johnny Berry bicycle was once on loan to the Hall of Champions in San Diego, California, but has now been returned to its owner.