Full name Marissa Stander 2011 Lotto Honda Team Disciplines Road cycling 2008–2010 MTN Cycling Weight 57 kg | Role Rider Height 1.68 m Current team Retired Name Marissa der | |
Born 30 August 1978 (age 45)
Pretoria, South Africa ( 1978-08-30 ) | ||
Marissa Stander (born August 30, 1978 in Pretoria) is a retired South African professional road cyclist. She has awarded two South African championship titles each in both road race and time trial, and later represented her nation South Africa at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Marissa also raced for the nation's MTN Cycling team before her official retirement in 2011.
Marissa made her official debut at the 2007 All-Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria, where she won the silver medal in the women's road race with a final time of 2:00:54, finishing behind her teammate Yolandi du Toit.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Marissa qualified for the South African squad in the women's road race by receiving one of the nation's two available berths from the UCI World Cup. She successfully completed a grueling race with a thirty-fourth-place effort in 3:33:17, surpassing Great Britain's Sharon Laws and the Netherlands' Mirjam Melchers by a few inches. On that same year, Marissa earned the women's time trial title in her first and only attempt at the South African Championships in East London.