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 officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

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

Professional career

Born in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, 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 The UCI Road World Cup was a season-long Road bicycle racing, road cycling competition held from 1989 until 2004 ...

. 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 (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

. 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, were 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 The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) () is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and National Paralympic Committee (NPC) for South Africa, and the responsible body for South Africa at the Commonwealth Games. It i ...

(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 ...

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 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 Junior Track Cycling World C ...

;2007 :

::2nd

Road race ::10th Time trial ;2008 : 1st 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 Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square& ...

: 3rd Road race, National Road Championships ;2010 : 1st Road race, National Road Championships : 7th Overall

Women's Tour of New Zealand The Women's Tour of New Zealand is a stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a racing, race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day race, multi-day event. ...

: 10th Road race,

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

;2011 :

::1st

Road race ::2nd Silver medal africa

Time trial : National Road Championships ::1st

Time trial In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

::3rd Road race : 10th

Ronde van Gelderland The Ronde van Gelderland () was an elite List of women's road bicycle races, women's road bicycle race held in the Netherlands between 2003 and 2016. It was rated by the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI as a 1.2 category race, and was primarily ...

;2012 : 1st

, National Road Championships : 1st Stage 2

La Route de France The Route de France Féminine was 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 Bo ...

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

, 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 Cyclists from Pretoria White South African people 21st-century South African sportswomen