Six-Time World Champion Cyclist Without a Home

Rebecca Twigg grew up in Seattle and learned to ride a bike at seven. By 14 she was at the University of Washington, competing and winning medals in national races, and at 17 she was recruited by coach Eddie Borysewicz. She specialised in the individual pursuit and won six world championships. She took silver at the 1984 Olympics, missing gold to Connie Carpenter by a few inches, and bronze in the 3,000-metre pursuit at the 1992 Games after about nine months of training.

She left the 1996 Atlanta Games early and, after placing eighth at the 1997 world championships, retired. At the height of her success she earned no more than 50,000 dollars a year. Afterwards she earned an associate degree in computer science, worked as a programmer in San Diego, later returned to IT desk jobs, studied massage therapy, remarried and had a daughter.

The Seattle Times reported in February 2022 that she had been without a home in Seattle for almost five years. She had been fired from an IT support job about five years earlier, and she said anxiety had made job hunting harder. Her housing moved from friends and family to her car, then to shelters, and once to sleeping outside downtown under garbage bags. She also pointed out that all the travelling for racing had left her without a home base. She had first been homeless around the age of 15, after her mother asked her to leave the basement home they shared with her sister.

In 2022 she was staying with relatives while recovering from the flu. She gave away her bike and walked to most places to save energy. She said shelters help but that there has to be a next step, and she has declined offers of housing for herself while saying she is unsure about what comes next.