Sara CarriganOAM (born 7 September 1980 in Gunnedah, New South Wales) is a professional cyclist from Australia, who commenced her cycling career in 1996 at the age of fifteen and is currently a member of the Belgian Lotto–Belisol Ladiesteam.
She was formerly a member of Professional cycling Team, Van Bemmelen – AA Drink (NED). She lives in Nerang in Queensland and is a member of the Gold Coast Cats cycling club. She graduated from Somerset College in 1998 and completed her tertiary education at Griffith University.[1]
Her greatest success as a road cyclist has been in the 2004 Summer Olympics Women's Road race where she won the gold medal. With a few laps to the finish Carrigan crossed a gap to the leading group to join fellow Australian cyclist, Oenone Wood. At the start of the final lap Carrigan broke away, with only Judith Arndt of Germany following, leaving Wood to successfully distract the rest in the following group, allowing her to win the gold medal.[2]
Carrigan was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.[3] She was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the 2005 Australia Day Honours List.[4] Other awards include Australian Female Road Cyclist of the Year in 2002, 2003, 2004.
In 2009, Carrigan was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.[5] In 2015, she was an inaugural Cycling Australia Hall of Fame inductee.[6]
