Celebrating an Australian Sporting Legend

Despite the bittersweet finish to Anna Meares’ Olympic Cycling career overnight, there’s not much else we can do except smile and marvel at everything Anna has achieved in her incredible career.

When Anna won the Bronze in the Women’s Keirin over the weekend, she became:

• Australia’s most decorated cyclist in Olympic history
• The only woman in the world to medal in all 4 sprint events at the Olympic Games
• The only Australian athlete to medal individually at four consecutive Olympic Games with this being her 5th individual medal

The decision to make Anna the Australian Flag Bearer for the 2016 Rio Olympics seemed a mere formality considering the stats of her career.

On numbers alone, Anna has received 6 Olympic medals (2 gold) 27 World Championship medals (11 gold), and 8 Commonwealth Games medals (5 gold).

However, what the numbers fail to capture is the essence of Anna off the track. Selfless. Passionate. Giving. Humble. Inspiring. These are just a few words that come to mind when thinking of the wonderful woman who became an official Little Heroes Ambassador in 2010.

Just over 2 years ago, after tirelessly fundraising for nearly the entire year, Anna shaved her head in August 2014, raising a total of $212,000 for our Centre for Robotics and Innovation, our latest project which opened only just last week!

Anna, you have made not only the entire Little Heroes Foundation team proud, but all of Australia. Congratulations!