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Rebecca McConnell

Rebecca Henderson (McConnell)

Age

32

Place of Birth

ACT

Olympic History

London 2012

Rio 2016

Tokyo 2020

Career Events

Mountain Bike Womens Cross-country

 

Rebecca's Story

Fast Facts

Sport: Cycling
Event: Mountain Bike
Olympic History: London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020
Year Born: 1991
State Born: ACT

About Rebecca

Hailing from the ACT, Rebecca McConnell first started mountain biking when she was just 12-years-old. As a sporty kid she grew up participating in athletics, field hockey and cross-country running, but it was mountain bike riding that stole her heart and which later became her sole focus. 

Leading into her debut Olympics, Rebecca claimed first at the 2011 U23 Australian Championships and U23 Oceania Championships. She then went on to claim her first World Cup podium at the 2012 U23 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Belgium, finishing the event with the bronze medal.  

At 20-years-old, Rebecca made her Olympic debut at the 2012 London Olympic Games, where she finished 25th overall behind world U23 champion Julie Bressert (France). 

The six-time national champion qualified for her first Commonwealth Games in 2014, where she walked away with the bronze medal in the women’s mountain bike final. Two years later, she achieved a career best result when she won the bronze medal in the open division at the 2016 World Cup held in Cairns, a result she considers a career highlight. 

That same year, she claimed Australia’s only female mountain bike spot for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. However, her second Olympic campaign was tough after falling too far behind the leaders due to a back injury, forcing her to withdraw from the competition in 25th position. 

Back injury halts Henderson’s run

After marrying her long-time partner and Olympic teammate Daniel McConnell in 2017, the duo both competed in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Unfortunately, both were unable to back up their bronze medal performances from Glasgow 2014 with Rebecca finishing the event in sixth place, while Daniel finished in seventh. 

The 29-year-old went on to claim the bronze medal in the cross-country event at both the 2019 World Championships in Mont Saint Anne and 2020 World Championships in Leogang.  

Making her third Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020, after competing in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016, McConnell finished 28th in the women’s cross country final at Izu.

The 29-year-old was 14mins 43secs behind gold medallist Jolanda Neff who led a clean sweep of the podium for Switzerland with Sina Frei and Linda Indergand claiming silver and bronze.

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