Leontien van Moorsel

Leontien Martha Henrica Petronella Zijlaard-van Moorsel (born 22 March 1970) is a Dutch retired racing cyclist. She was a dominant cyclist in the 1990s and early 2000s, winning four gold medals at the Olympic Games and holding the hour record for women from 2003 until 2015.

Career

At the age of eight, she competed in her first cycling race . She made her Tour Féminin debut in 1989 at the age of 19 , finishing 31st overall . She went on to win the Tour Féminin twice in the first half of the 1990s, establishing a notable rivalry with Jeannie Longo .

Van Moorsel dropped out of cycling in 1994 with anorexia nervosa but recovered to compete at the World Championships in 1998, winning the time trial and coming second in the road race.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, van Moorsel won gold medals on the road (road race and time trial), and on the track (3 km pursuit). She became the first female Olympian in history to win gold medals in two separate disciplines at the same Olympic games.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she fell in the penultimate lap of the road race and was stretchered off and taken to the hospital by ambulance, but nevertheless successfully defended her time trial title two days later.

She set a new world hour record for women of 46.065 km, in 2003 in Mexico City, which was not improved upon for almost 12 years, when UCI rule changes prompted a new succession of attempts.

Van Moorsel retired from professional cycling after the 2004 Olympics.

In 2017 Van Moorsel became director of the Women's Amstel Gold Race.

In September 2017, Van Moorsel was accused by sports physician Peter Janssen of using EPO in 2000 and 2001.

Major results

1985

1987

1988

1989

1st Stage 1 Tour of Norway

1990

1st UCI Road World Championships Team Time Trial

2nd Overall Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin National Track Championship 3rd Points race 3rd Individual sprint 3rd Chrono des Nations

1991

3rd National Road Race Championships

1992

National Track Championship

2nd Points race

1993

2nd Overall Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin

1997

National Track Championships

2nd Points race 1st Overall Boekel 1st Stages 1 & 3

1998

National Road Championships

National Track Championships

1st Stages 1 & 3 1st Parel van de Veluwe 1st Omloop der Kempen 2nd Overall Boels Rental Ladies Tour 1st Stage 1 2nd UCI Road World Championships Road Race 2nd UCI Track Cycling World Championships (Individual Pursuit)

1999

National Road Championships

National Track Championships

1st Stages 2 & 7

1st Stages 2 & 3 1st Overall Greenery International 1st Stages 1, 2 & 3 1st Overall Boekel 1st Prologue, Stages 1 & 2 1st Damesronde van Drenthe 1st Omloop van Kanaleneiland 1st Omloop der Kempen 2nd Rotterdam Tour

2000 Olympic Games

National Road Championships

2nd Road Race National Track Championships

1st Stages 1 & 2 1st Overall Westfriese Dorpenomloop 1st Prologue & Stage 1 1st Overall Boekel 1st Stages 1, 2a & 2b 1st Ronde van het Ronostrand 1st Omloop der Kempen 1st Stages 1, 2 & 4 Giro d'Italia Femminile

2001

National Track Championships

1st Overall Ster van Zeeland 1st Stages 2 & 3 1st Overall Boekel 1st Stages 2 & 3 1st Acht van Chaam 1st Egmond-Pier-Egmond 1st Souvenir Magali Pache 1st Profronde van Stiphout 1st Profronde van Surhuisterveen 1st Prologue Giro d'Italia Femminile 1st Stage 1 Boels Rental Ladies Tour 3rd Amstel Gold Race

2002

National Road Championships

2nd Road Race National Track Championships

1st Overall RaboSter Zeeuwsche Eilanden 1st Stages 1, 2 & 3a 1st Overall Westfriese Dorpenomloop 1st Stages 1 & 2 1st Amstel Gold Race 1st Damesronde van Drenthe 1st Acht van Chaam 1st Egmond-Pier-Egmond 1st Profronde van Stiphout,

2003

1st Overall Boekel 1st Stage 3 1st Omloop van Borsele 2nd National Time Trial Championships World Hour record

2004 Olympic Games

1st Ronde van Gelderland 1st Omloop der Kempen 1st Profronde van Stiphout 1st Acht van Chaam

Personal life Van Moorsel married former track cyclist Michael Zijlaard in October 1995. They have a daughter, born in 2007.