Rohan Dennis, a former world champion cyclist, has pleaded guilty to a car accident in Australia that killed his wife, fellow Olympian Melissa Hoskins.
Hoskins died in the hospital on December 30, 2023, after being hit by a vehicle driven by Dennis outside their home in Adelaide.
The 34-year-old was first charged with dangerous driving resulting in death and driving without due care, but on Tuesday he agreed to a lesser charge: one aggravated count of creating the likelihood of damage.
Dennis, who shares two children with Hoskins, will be sentenced at a later date.
Dennis’ guilty plea, on the other hand, implies that he acknowledged driving a car while Hoskins was nearby, knowing that act was likely to do injury or being carelessly indifferent to whether it would.
“There was no intention of Mr. Dennis to harm his wife, and this charge does not charge him with responsibility for her death,” the retired athlete’s lawyer told the court.
Hoskins was a world champion in the team pursuit in 2015 and a two-time Olympian, and her passing prompted a flood of tributes from all around the world. She and Dennis got married in 2018.
He retired at the end of the 2023 season, having won stages in the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and the Vuelta a Espana.
He is a double world champion on both the road and the track, having earned bronze in the road time trial at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and silver in the team pursuit in London 2012. He also won gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
