Iris Bent

Iris Mary Bent (later Iris Dixon, 1931–2022) was an Australian cyclist. She won sixteen Australian national titles and was crowned Australian Champion of Champions at least three times. During Bent's career, women's cycling was not yet an event at the world championships or the Olympics.

Bent learnt to ride when she was four years old on a bicycle her father had built for her. Originally trained by her father, after her marriage, she was trained by husband, Jim Dixon.

In 1951, she won all five national titles at the Bundaberg championships to retain the title "Champion of Champions". On her return to Melbourne she was met by Hubert Opperman, the federal MP and former cyclist, who was Chairman of the Commonwealth Jubilee sporting celebrations committee. Opperman described her achievement as "the most outstanding showing by a Victorian woman cyclist in history." In 1951, the Sunday Mail dubbed her "the best women's track cyclist in the world today".

She continued racing after the birth of her first child but stopped racing after the birth of her second child before returning to racing again in her mid-fifties in the 1970s. At sixty, she won the open 66 kilometre Northern Veterans handicap race from Benalla to Yarrawonga in 1992 .

Personal life In 1948, Iris married James Herbert Dixon, a fellow cyclist from Western Australia.

Iris Dixon died on 23 July 2022; she was 91.

Recognition In 2014, Dixon was inducted into the Cycling Victoria Hall of Fame followed by the Cycling Australia Hall of Fame in 2016 She was also posthumously awarded a local council award for contribution to sport.

In 2023, the National Museum of Australia acquired thirteen items in order to establish an Iris Dixon Collection. Two years later, in 2025, the Dixon Veloway, a multi-lane cycling overpass, was named for her in Melbourne.