Former Australian cycling world champion Rohan Dennis admitted Tuesday to a charge of creating a risk of harm in connection with the December 2023 traffic death of his Olympian wife Melissa Hoskins.
Dennis pleaded guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court to an aggravated charge of creating a risk of harm after a car he was driving hit her, according to Australian public broadcaster ABC and partner of CBS News BBC News.
Prosecutors agreed not to pursue charges of “causing death by dangerous driving” and “driving without due care and endangering life”, ABC reported.
His lawyer told the court that Dennis, 34, did not intend to kill Hoskins.
Australian Olympic Committee
“Mr Dennis had no intention of harming his wife and this accusation does not make him responsible for her death,” the retired athlete’s lawyer told the court, the BBC reported.
Hoskins, a retired track cyclist who represented Australia at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, died in an Adelaide hospital from serious injuries after the incident. At the 2016 Games, she was hospitalized after being involved in a high-speed accident at the Olympic Velodrome during training, ABC reported.
She was part of the Australian team that won the team pursuit event at the 2015 Track Cycling World Championships in France.
Dennis won world time trials in 2018 and 2019, as well as a stage victory in 2015 at the Tour de France. He retired at the end of the 2023 season, according to the BBC reported.
Dennis – who has two children with Hoskins – will be sentenced at a later date, the BBC reported. They got married in 2018.
Rui Vieira / AP