Matthew Glaetzer (born 24 August 1992) is an Australian

track cyclist Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

Career

He competed in the

team sprint The team sprint (also sometimes known as the Olympic sprint) is a track cycling event. Despite its name, it is not a conventional cycling sprint event – it is a three-rider team time trial held over three laps of a velodrome. The current men's ...

event at 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 ...

, and won the 2012 World Championship in the

with Scott Sunderland and

Shane Perkins Shane Perkins (russian: Шейн Перкинс; born 30 December 1986) is an Australian and Russian (since 17 August 2017) professional track cyclist. Biography Early life Perkins was born in Melbourne, the son of Daryl Perkins. As a youngste ...

. Glaetzer represented Australia in the men's sprint, men's keirin, and men's team sprint events at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. On 12 November 2017, at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

competition in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Glaetzer became the first rider ever to break the 1:00-minute mark for

1 km time trial The track time trial is a track cycling event where cyclists compete individually against the clock to record the fastest time over the specified distance from a standing start. Time trial bikes Track time trial bikes differ from normal track bik ...

, at sea level velodrome. At the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

, Glaetzer won gold in the men's keirin. He was eliminated from the men's sprint in the quarterfinals. The next day, he won gold in the men's 1 km time trial. At the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, Glaetzer courted controversy during the Keirin finals when he allowed a huge gap between

Jason Kenny Sir Jason Francis Kenny, (born 23 March 1988) is an English former track cyclist, specialising in the individual and team sprints. Kenny is the holder of most Olympic gold medals (7) and medals (9) for a British athlete. His wife, Laura Kenn ...

from Great Britain and the rest of the field. At the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

, Glaetzer won gold in the men's team sprint alongside

Leigh Hoffman Leigh Hoffman (born 11 June 2000) is an Australian track cyclist. Early life Hoffman was brought up in Whyalla in South Australia but moved as teenager to Adelaide to be nearer his training base at the SA Sports Institute, enrolling at the Imm ...

and Matthew Richardson on the first day of the games. He also competed in the men's individual sprint event where he came 4th.

Competition record

Personal life

Glaetzer is a Christian. He stated that he has been a Christian all his life, but drifted from God during his teens due to injuries. He rededicated his life to God at a camp run by his local church. He also said God gave him the gift of cycling. Glaetzer leads a youth group at

Influencers Church Influencers Church, formerly Paradise Community Church, is a Pentecostal church affiliated to the Assemblies of God, with congregations in the state of South Australia, Australia, and in the southern United States. It was founded in Adelaide in ...

in Paradise, Adelaide. Glaetzer is a student at

University of South Australia The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

, where he is studying a degree in Human Movement. He has stated that he wants to go into physiotherapy when he retires from cycling. In October 2019, Glaetzer was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

References

External links

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London 2012 profileAustralian Olympic team profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glaetzer, Matthew 1992 births Australian Christians Australian male cyclists Australian track cyclists Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Living people Olympic cyclists of Australia Cyclists from Adelaide UCI Track Cycling World Champions (men) Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling Cyclists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games 21st-century Australian people Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from South Australia