Olympic cyclist hit by car

Olympic cyclist Hayden Godfrey required arm surgery after being hit by a car in Christchurch. Godfrey, a member of the New Zealand track cycling team, had just returned from a World Cup meeting in Beijing.

Godfrey said he was cycling towards the city when a car travelling towards Sumner turned in front of him. "I looked down for one second and then I look up and there's a whole faceful of car in front of me," he said. "There was nowhere to go, nothing to do. I didn't even have time to hit the brakes."

His left elbow went through a passenger-side window and as his body went over the top of the car, his arm was pulled back, causing a horseshoe-shaped gash that went through to muscle. Surgeons at Christchurch Hospital removed glass and paint chips from the wound.

Godfrey's helmet and three-week-old, $13,000 bicycle, with just 150 kilometres on the clock, were destroyed. His mother, Jeanne, said the car's driver admitted liability , but she did not know if charges would be laid.