Australian former world champion cyclist Rohan Dennis yesterday said that he loved his wife and never wanted to hurt her in his first public comments since receiving a suspended prison sentence over her death.
Dennis, an Olympic medalist in 2012 and 2021, avoided jail last year for driving in a way “likely to cause harm” before his car struck and killed his fellow Olympian wife Melissa Hoskins in 2023.
He instead received a nearly 17-month suspended sentence given his guilty plea to an “aggravated act likely to cause harm,” his remorse and role as sole carer of their young children.
Photo: AP
“Yes it was an accident,” Dennis said in a lengthy statement on social media that lashed out at his treatment by the media. “I loved Melissa and the last thing I ever wanted was to hurt her. Never in my life has any physical aggression crossed my mind in any disagreement with Melissa.”
A court heard the incident happened after the couple had an argument over house renovations.
Dennis drove off to calm down, but Hoskins jumped onto the car hood.
He carried on slowly driving for up to 10 seconds, the court heard, before Hoskins opened the door to the moving car, tripped and was dragged underneath.
Dennis slammed media allegations that suggested he was a “husband who abused his wife,” and journalists’ “pathetic” pursuit of him and his children for “cheap clicks.”
“I have ALWAYS been against any sort of abuse against women and especially the one who gave birth to my children,” he wrote.
“Time for all you so-called journalists and media outlets to back off and leave my family alone,” he added.
Dennis won the world time trial in 2018 and 2019, as well as taking a 2015 stage win in the Tour de France.
He was a team pursuit silver medalist at the 2012 London Olympics and a bronze medalist in the time trial at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Hoskins represented Australia at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, but did not win a medal.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
RSS