GOLD Coast Olympians, basketballer Jenny Whittle and cyclist Robbie McEwen, became the 40th inductees into the Gold Coast Sporting Hall of Fame on Sunday afternoon.
They were formally honoured in front of over 100 family, friends and well-wishers at a ceremony at the Hall of Fame at Southport.
Gold Coast-born Whittle was recognised as a regular member of the Australian national basketball team for over a decade from 1993 until 2006.
Her stellar career featured Olympic silver and bronze medals and world championship gold at junior and senior level.
“This is great, and I am very honoured to take my place in the Hall of Fame,” Whittle said.
“It’s all about being a Gold Coaster and to be recognised in this way today is quite special,” she said.
McEwen is one of Australia’s most decorated professional cyclists and a regular fixture on the roads of the Tweed over the years. He was the 1999, 2002 and 2005 Australian Male Road Cyclist of the Year. He is a triple Olympian and three-time winner of the Tour de France’s green jersey sprinter’s classification.
At his peak, he was considered one of the fastest sprinters in the world.
“This (induction) means so much to me because the Gold Coast is the place where I was always able to come home to relax and re-focus for my European campaigns,” McEwen said.
The induction ceremony continued a huge week for sport in the City, with the arrival of the 2014 Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton on Friday before the presentation of the Key to the City to local superstar Adam Scott on Wednesday ahead of the Australian Golf PGA Tournament
The Gold Coast Sporting Hall of Fame is situated at Mick Veivers Way at Southport.
It was established to recognise and celebrate the deeds of outstanding Gold Coast elite sportspeople.
Five-time World 500cc champion Mick Doohan was the inaugural inductee in 1999.
But for the first time a number of ‘unsung heroes’ of Gold Coast sport also had their moment in the sun.
They were named as the inaugural winners of the Daphne Pirie Spirit of Sport Award – a medal struck in honour of the Coast’s ‘first lady of sport’.
The recipients were recognised for their selfless work behind the scenes of a number of local sporting clubs as volunteers and administrators and for their dedication to development of sport in the city.
They are Alan ‘Doc’ MacKenzie for his contribution to the Southport Australian Football Club and AFL generally, Julie Ashton-Lucy, Olympic umpire, for her contribution to hockey, touch football stalwarts Kerry and Greg Norman and Paul Eggers and croquet and mallet sports World Gateball Championships representative Keith McLeod.
Peter McGrath was recognised for his contribution to junior rugby league while Sam Dick was nominated by the Point Danger Branch of Surf Life Saving Queensland for his involvement in the sport and Trevor Johnston was awarded for a lifetime given to the sport of hockey as a player, administrator, coach and supporter.
