Sam Bewley joined a select group of New Zealand Olympians in London in 2012 by winning medals at successive Olympics.
Bewley teamed with Marc Ryan, Wesley Gough, Jesse Sergent and Aaron Gate to win the bronze medal in the men's team pursuit, repeating the feat that Bewley, Ryan, Sergent and Hayden Roulston had achieved at Beijing in 2008.
The powerful Bewley made the cycling world take notice when he won the silver medal in the individual pursuit at the 2005 world junior championships in Austria. He then joined the New Zealand squad that went one better in beating Great Britain to win the gold medal in the team pursuit.
Bewley, a product of Rotorua Boys' High School, had long been tipped as a cyclist of exceptional promise and has gone on to more than fulfill such expectations.
At the 2007 world championships in Spain, Bewley was in the New Zealand team pursuit - along with Ryan, Wes Gough and Peter Latham - that was shaded by the Danes for a bronze medal.
In 2008, Bewley was in the New Zealand pursuit team that finished fifth at the world champs. However, the team, Roulston, Ryan, Sergent and Bewley – had improved significantly by the time of the Beijing Olympics and won a breakthrough bronze medal there.
The New Zealanders qualified second in Beijing behind a crack British team anchored by Bradley Wiggins. In the match round, they recorded a sizzling 3min 57.536s, the third fastest after Britain and Denmark.
Riding for the bronze medal against Australia, the New Zealanders recorded 3min 57.776 to comfortably secure their medal.
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Sam Bewley joined a select group of New Zealand Olympians in London in 2012 by winning medals at successive Olympics.
Bewley teamed with Marc Ryan, Wesley Gough, Jesse Sergent and Aaron Gate to win the bronze medal in the men's team pursuit, repeating the feat that Bewley, Ryan, Sergent and Hayden Roulston had achieved at Beijing in 2008.
The powerful Bewley made the cycling world take notice when he won the silver medal in the individual pursuit at the 2005 world junior championships in Austria. He then joined the New Zealand squad that went one better in beating Great Britain to win the gold medal in the team pursuit.
Bewley, a product of Rotorua Boys' High School, had long been tipped as a cyclist of exceptional promise and has gone on to more than fulfill such expectations.
At the 2007 world championships in Spain, Bewley was in the New Zealand team pursuit - along with Ryan, Wes Gough and Peter Latham - that was shaded by the Danes for a bronze medal.
In 2008, Bewley was in the New Zealand pursuit team that finished fifth at the world champs. However, the team, Roulston, Ryan, Sergent and Bewley – had improved significantly by the time of the Beijing Olympics and won a breakthrough bronze medal there.
The New Zealanders qualified second in Beijing behind a crack British team anchored by Bradley Wiggins. In the match round, they recorded a sizzling 3min 57.536s, the third fastest after Britain and Denmark.
Riding for the bronze medal against Australia, the New Zealanders recorded 3min 57.776 to comfortably secure their medal.
After the Beijing games, Bewley kept busy. He was a member of the team pursuit squad - along with Sergent, Ryan, Latham and Wes Gough - that won a bronze medal at the 2010 world championship in Copenhagen. The same group won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi later in the year, shaded by Australia for the gold. Also in Delhi, Bewley finished 53rd in the road race.
At the 2011 world championships in The Netherlands, the New Zealand team's pursuit squad of Bewley, Latham, Ryan and Sergent finished fourth and then set their eyes on London, 2012.
Repeating their heroics from Beijing, the New Zealanders – Bewley, Ryan, Gough, Sergent and Aaron Gate (who replaced Gough after the first ride) - were again third fastest (in a time of 3min 57.607s) in the qualifying round, behind Britain and Australia. They went even faster in the match round, their 3min 56.442s again placing them third.In the bronze medal race, the New Zealanders were too good for Russia, recording 3min 55.952s, to win by more than two seconds.
Besides his track racing commitments, Bewley has kept busy rising on the roads professionally. He signed for Trek Livestrong in 2009, and then had two years with Team RadioShack, led by Tour de France hero Lance Armstrong. In 2012-13, Bewley, who based himself in Spain, rode for the Australian Orica-GreenEDGE team.
