Dean Woods

For the neighborhood in Northeast Washington, D.C., see Deanwood.

Dean Woods
OAM

Personal information
Full name	Dean Anthony Woods
Nickname	Woodsy
Born	(1966-06-22)22 June 1966 Wangaratta, Australia
Died	3 March 2022(2022-03-03) (aged 55)
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	90 kg (198 lb)
Team information
Discipline	Track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Pursuit
Professional teams
1989–1991	Stuttgart–Merckx–Gonsor
1992	Southern Sun – M.N.E.T.
1993	Jayco
Medal record Men's track cycling Representing Australia Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Team pursuit 1988 Seoul Individual pursuit 1988 Seoul Team pursuit 1996 Atlanta Team pursuit Commonwealth Games 1986 Edinburgh Individual pursuit 1986 Edinburgh Team pursuit 1986 Edinburgh 10 miles scratch 1994 Victoria BC Team pursuit 1994 Victoria BC Points race

Dean Anthony Woods OAM (22 June 1966 – 3 March 2022) was an Australian racing cyclist from Wangaratta in Victoria known for his track cycling at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games. On Australia Day 1985 he was awarded the Order of Australia medal for service to cycling. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.

Career

At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Woods, with teammates Michael Grenda, Kevin Nichols and Michael Turtur, won the 4000m team pursuit. Critics did not give them much chance. The team was coached by Charlie Walsh and dubbed "Charlie's Angels". In the final the Australians defeated the United States by 3.86 seconds, even though the Australians were riding conventional bikes while the Americans had high-tech machines. Woods told The Border Mail in 2004, "Expectations weren't high for us from the press, but we thought we would do pretty well. We had a close team."

In the 4000m individual pursuit Woods was beaten for bronze by Leonard Nitz (US).

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Wayne McCarney, Stephen McGlede, Scott McGrory, Brett Dutton and Woods won the bronze medal for the team pursuit, defeated by the USSR (gold) and German Democratic Republic (silver). In the individual pursuit Woods won the silver medal.

Woods won a bronze medal in the team pursuit at the 1996 Summer Olympics. At the 1986 Commonwealth Games he won the individual pursuit event. At the 1990 Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic, Woods set the record of 5h 12m or 50.9 km/h for this 265 km race.

Woods established and worked at a bicycle shop, Dean Woods Direct, in Wangaratta but later sold it.

He died from cancer on 3 March 2022, at the age of 55.

Major results

Sources:

1989

5th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx

8th Overall Tour de Picardie

1990

7th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx

9th Benego Omloop

10th Overall Vuelta a Aragón

1991

4th Overall Tour of Sweden

1st Stage 1a (ITT)

1993

1st Stage 2 Herald Sun Tour

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	1990	1991
Vuelta a España	124	112
Giro d'Italia	—	—
Tour de France	—	—

Legend

—	Did not compete
DNF	Did not finish

External links

Media related to Dean Woods at Wikimedia Commons

• Dean Woods at Cycling Archives
• Dean Woods at ProCyclingStats
• Dean Woods at Olympedia
• Dean Woods at the Australian Olympic Committee
• Dean Woods at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame