Natasha Hansen (born 15 November 1989) is a New Zealand track cyclist who has represented her country at the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and 2016 Summer Olympics. Hansen competed at the 2018 Gold Coast games and won two silver medals in the sprint & team sprint, and a bronze in the keirin.

Early life

Hansen was born in 1989 in

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

's North Shore and is of Samoan descent. She grew up in Canterbury and played

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

and was in the

Canterbury Flames Canterbury Flames were a New Zealand netball team based in Christchurch, Canterbury. Between 1998 and 2007 they played in the Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup league. In 2008, when the National Bank Cup was replaced by the ANZ Championship, Ca ...

wider squad, including trials at the national secondary level. Her motivation for taking up track cycling during secondary school was to increase her fitness for netball.

Career

At her second national trials, she set new national records in sprint and 500 m, which qualified her for the 2007 UCI Juniors World Championships held in Aguascalientes, Mexico. This was her first international event and gained her a training place in

World Cycling Centre The World Cycling Centre (WCC, french: Centre Mondial du Cyclisme) is a coaching and training centre in Aigle, Switzerland. It contains a indoor velodrome, a BMX racing track and other non-cycling facilities. It was built in 2002 to celebrate the ...

in the French speaking part of Switzerland, to where she moved. Hansen moved back to New Zealand in the following year (2008) and moved to

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

to train at the

ILT Velodrome The SIT Zero Fees Velodrome, previously known as the ILT Velodrome and also known as the Invercargill Velodrome, is an indoor velodrome located in Surrey Park, Invercargill, Southland Region, Southland, New Zealand. It is next door to the ILT ...

, then the base of the New Zealand cycling team. During her time there in the Southland city, she trained as an

air traffic controller Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCS, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control ...

Invercargill Airport Invercargill Airport is a fully secured controlled international designated airport located 1.6 km (one mile) west of the Central business district of Invercargill at the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the southernmost co ...

. At the 2011 Oceania Cycling Championships, she gained titles in team sprint, keirin, and the 500 m event. This secured her a place at the 2012 Summer Olympics for the

keirin – literally "racing cycle" – is a form of motor-paced cycle racing in which track cyclists sprint for victory following a speed-controlled start behind a motorized or non-motorized pacer. It was developed in Japan around 1948 for gambling ...

and the sprint. Her preparation was distracted by her best friend dying of cancer, and Hansen returned to New Zealand in July 2012 for the funeral. She came 12th in the sprint and 11th in the Keirin. She took 2013 off from competitive cycling and looked for another opportunity to keep herself fit. She took up boxing to train for a charity event in Christchurch. She competed in 'Fight for Christchurch 2013' in November, raising funds for the Ronald McDonald House South Island. The event itself raised in excess of $200,000 for selected charities. Hansen regained her motivation for track cycling and moved to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

on 1 January 2015; the national team had relocated to the Avantidrome when it officially opened in April 2014. At the same time, she relocated to Hamilton Airport for work. She teamed up with

Katie Schofield Katie Schofield (born 25 March 1984) is a New Zealand professional racing cyclist. She rode at the 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships The 2015 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were the World Championships for track cycling in 2015 ...

for the team sprint and came fourth at a World Cup meeting in Cali, Colombia, in January 2015. Hansen was competing with Schofield and

Stephanie McKenzie Stephanie McKenzie (born 15 February 1993) is a New Zealand professional racing cyclist. At age eight Stephanie was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and due to it joined the Novo Nordisk team. Later on, she decided to attend Massey University where ...

for selection for the 2016 Rio Olympics when she came fifth in the individual sprint in March 2016 at the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in London, and this performance secured her place at her second Olympics. Hansen was confirmed by the

New Zealand Olympic Committee The New Zealand Olympic Committee (before 1994, The ''New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association'') is both the National Olympic Committee and the Commonwealth Games Association in New Zealand responsible for selecting athletes to re ...

as part of the first track cyclists chosen for Rio on 7 April 2016. The remainder of the team was confirmed in July, and that included Olivia Podmore who was the other half of the sprint team. Hansen and Podmore did not survive the qualification round 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 ...

. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Hansen won the silver medal in the individual sprint and bronze in the keirin, and was part of the New Zealand team (with

Emma Cumming Emma Cumming (born 20 February 1998) is a New Zealand racing cyclist. She represented her country at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, claiming the silver medal in the team sprint (with Natasha Hansen) and the bronze medal in the track time trial. ...

) that won silver in the team sprint. Outside of sport, Hansen is a licensed

Career results

;2015 :1st Sprint, Champions of Sprint :Oceania Track Championships ::2nd Keirin ::2nd Team Sprint (with

) ::2nd 500m Time Trial ::3rd Sprint :Festival of Speed ::2nd Keirin ::2nd Sprint ;2016 :2nd Team Sprint, GP von Deutschland im Sprint (with Olivia Podmore) ;2017 :ITS Melbourne – DISC Grand Prix ::2nd Keirin ::3rd Sprint :3rd Sprint, Oceania Track Championships ;2018 :Commonwealth Games ::2nd Team Sprint ::2nd Sprint ::3rd Keirin

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Natasha 1989 births Air traffic controllers Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Living people Canterbury Flames players New Zealand female cyclists New Zealand women boxers New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Olympic cyclists for New Zealand Cyclists from Auckland Sportspeople from Cambridge, New Zealand Cyclists from Christchurch New Zealand track cyclists New Zealand netball players 21st-century New Zealand women People from Takapuna Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games