Cherise Willeit (née Taylor, previously Stander; born 6 November 1989) is a South African professional road cyclist. She has won a single African and four South African championship titles, in both the road race and the time trial, and later represented her nation at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. Willeit also raced for Belgium's professional cycling team in 2011 and 2012.

Professional career

Born in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

, Willeit qualified for the South African squad in the women's road race at the

in Beijing by receiving one of the nation's two available berths from the

UCI World Cup The UCI World Cups are the World Cups for cycling disciplines organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale: * UCI Road World Cup (1989–2004) * UCI Women's Road World Cup (1998–2015) * UCI Mountain Bike World Cup * UCI Track Cycling World Cup ...

. She successfully completed a grueling race with a fifty-ninth-place effort, finishing in 3:48:33, surpassing Cuba's

Yumari González Yumari González Valdivieso (born June 13, 1979) is a Cuban professional road and track cyclist. She competed at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics in the Women's road race. Career Born in Sancti Spíritus, González won the 500-metre time tr ...

by a wide, three-minute gap. That same year, Willeit earned the women's elite road race title in her first attempt at the

South African National Road Race Championships The South African National Road Race Championship is a road bicycle race that takes place inside the South African National Cycling Championship, and decides the best cyclist in this type of race. The first race winner of the road race championsh ...

. Willeit's success in the South African Championships landed her a spot on the MTN team for the 2009 season, followed by her official stint on the in 2011. That year, Willeit flourished, winning two time trial events at both the South African Championships, and at the UCI African Continental Championships in

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

. Willeit also sought her bid for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, but the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) excluded her from the team. Moreover, Cycling South Africa decided to reject her appeal based on the board's scrutiny and decision in the due process and procedures for the national team's final selection.

Personal life

Willeit married elite mountain biker and African under-23 champion

Burry Stander Burry Willie Stander (16 September 1987 – 3 January 2013) was a South African mountain biker, the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup under-23 men's cross-country 2009 world champion. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, Stander finished 1 ...

in May 2012. Stander was killed during a collision with a taxi while training near his residence in Shelly Beach the following year. She later married Benjamin Willeit and became a mother to a son.

Major results

;2006 : 2nd Silver medal africa

Road race, African Junior Road Championships : 6th Road race,

UCI Juniors World Championships The UCI Juniors World Championships were a set of UCI World Championships events for junior bicycle cyclists in 2005 to 2009. In 2010 it was divided into: *The Junior men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships *The UCI Juniors Track World ...

;2007 :

::2nd

Road race ::10th Time trial ;2008 : 1st MaillotSudáfrica

Road race, National Road Championships : 7th Overall

Tour of Chongming Island The Tour of Chongming Island International Cycling Race is an annual elite women's road bicycle racing stage race held in Shanghai, China, named after Chongming Island. The Tour previously consisted of two races: a stage race and a one-day race. ...

::1st Stage 4 ;2009 : 2nd Silver medal africa

Road race,

African Road Championships The African Continental Cycling Championships are a series of cycling races held annually in Africa where the African cyclists decide who will be the champion for the year to come. They have been held since 2001. Editions Men Road Race ...

: 3rd Road race, National Road Championships ;2010 : 1st MaillotSudáfrica

Road race, National Road Championships : 7th Overall

Women's Tour of New Zealand The Women's Tour of New Zealand is a stage race for elite women road cyclists held in New Zealand at the end of February or the beginning of March. It is rated as 2.2 on the UCI classification scheme. It was not held in 2013 or 2014, but return ...

: 10th Road race,

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

;2011 :

::1st

Road race ::2nd Silver medal africa

Time trial : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotSudáfrica

Time trial ::3rd Road race : 10th

Ronde van Gelderland The Ronde van Gelderland ( en, Tour of Gelderland) was an elite women's road bicycle race held in the Netherlands between 2003 and 2016. It was rated by the UCI as a 1.2 category race, and was primarily centred around Apeldoorn Apeldoorn ( ...

;2012 : 1st MaillotSudáfrica

Time trial, National Road Championships : 1st Stage 2

La Route de France The Route de France Féminine is a women's cycle race. First held in 2006, it was rated 2.2 by the UCI for the 2006 and 2007 edition, and 2.1 since. The race was cancelled in 2011, but returned the next year. With the ending of the Grande Boucle ...

;2014 : 2nd Road race, National Road Championships ;2015 : KZN Autumn Series ::1st PMB Road Classic ::1st Hibiscus Cycle Classic : 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships

References

External links

Profile – Ultimate Sports Nutrition
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willeit, Cherise 1989 births Living people South African female cyclists Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for South Africa Sportspeople from Pretoria White South African people