Kathy Watt

Kathy Watt
Watt at the 1999 Women's Challenge
Personal information
Full nameKathryn Ann Watt
Born (1964-09-11) 11 September 1964
Team information
DisciplineRoad and track
RoleRider
Medal record
Representing  Australia
Women's road cycling
Olympic Games
1992 Barcelona Road Race
1992 Barcelona 3000m Pursuit
Commonwealth Games
1994 Victoria BC Road race
1994 Victoria BC Team time trial
1998 Kuala Lumpur Road race
1998 Kuala Lumpur Individual time trial
2006 Melbourne Individual time trial
Commonwealth Games
1990 Auckland Road race
Women's track cycling
Commonwealth Games
1990 Auckland 3000m Pursuit
1994 Victoria BC 3000m Pursuit

Kathryn ("Kathy") Ann Watt (born 11 September 1964) is an Australian racing cyclist who won two medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain (gold in the road race, and silver in the pursuit).[1][2] She has won 24 national championships in road racing, track racing, and mountain bike, four Commonwealth Games gold medals, and came third in the world time trial championship. She was made a life member of Blackburn Cycling Club in 1990. She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.[3]

The daughter of marathoner Geoff Watt, Kathy Watt turned first to running, winning the national junior 3 km championship. She began to train on a bike after achilles tendon problems. For a while, she competed in duathlon (running and cycling), but found she was a better cyclist than runner.

In 1996, Watt was in a legal dispute with the Australian Cycling Federation over who would race the pursuit in the Olympic Games. Watt had been told that she would be[4] but was replaced a few days before the event by Lucy Tyler-Sharman. Watt appealed to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, claiming a breach of contract. The court ordered Watt to be reinstated in the race.[5]

In 2000, Watt again became involved in a controversy over a selection, but this time she was not successful in her appeal to the CAS.

She retired after 2000 but came back three years later but was not successful in an attempt to qualify for the 2004 Olympics. After another retirement, Watt worked as a coach and personal trainer. However, she made another comeback to qualify for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, where she won a silver medal in the time trial. In January 2006, she won the time trial section of the Australian open road championship in Buninyong, Ballarat.[6]

Watt holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Melbourne, with a major in physiology and pathology. She studied nutrition, anatomy, and physiotherapy.[7] She attended Tintern Church of England Girls' Grammar, now Tintern Grammar.[8]

Awards and recognition

In 2015, Watt was an inaugural Cycling Australia Hall of Fame inductee.[9] She was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2019.[10]

Major results

Source:[11]

1990
Commonwealth Games
1st Road race
2nd Individual pursuit
3rd Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
1 stage victory
1992
Olympic Games
1st Road race
2nd Individual pursuit
1st Road race, National Road Championships
1994
2nd Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
1st Prologue, Stages 1 & 3b (ITT)
1st Giro del Piave
1st Overall Canberra Stage Race
5 stage victories
1995
3rd Time trial, UCI Road World Championships
1996
National Road Championships
1st Time trial
2nd Road race
1997
Oceania Championships
1st Time trial
2nd Road race
1998
1st Overall GP Presov and Pravda
1st Stage 1 (ITT)
2nd Overall Tour de Bretagne
1st Stage 1
2nd Overall Grazia Tour
1st Stage 4
2nd Grand Prix des Nations
6th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships
7th Overall Tour de l'Aude
1999
2nd Overall International Tour de Toona
1st Stage 5
7th Overall Grazia Tour
2005
1st Chrono Champenois
1st Stage 2 Thuringen–Rundfahrt
2nd Overall GP International Feminin Bretagne
2006
1st Time trial, National Road Championships
2nd Time trial, Commonwealth Games
2007
1st Overall Tour de Perth
2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
2008
4th Time trial, National Road Championships

References

  1. ^ Kathy Watt Cycling – Road Cycling – Track. Corporate.olympics.com.au. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  2. ^ Kathy Watt. Sports Reference (11 September 1964). Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  3. ^ AIS Athletes at the Olympics Archived 9 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Ausport.gov.au (9 January 2008). Retrieved 2 August 012.
  4. ^ not accurate--source needed
  5. ^ The Kathy Watt Saga Continued. Autobus.cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  6. ^ Watt makes Comm Games after TT win. Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  7. ^ "Kathy Watt".
  8. ^ "Kathy Watt OAM (YG 1982) | Tintern Alumni".
  9. ^ "Inaugural Cycling Australia Hall of Fame inductees". Cycling Australia. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  10. ^ "Kathryn Watt OAM". State Government of Victoria. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  11. ^ Kathy Watt at Cycling Archives (archive)