A former world champion cyclist has been charged over the death of his Olympian wife after allegedly hitting her with a ute.
Rohan Dennis, 33, was arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving, driving without due care and endangering life.
Melissa Dennis, 32, was taken to hospital with serious injuries and died shortly after.
The fatal collision happened on a leafy tree-lined street in the inner northern suburb of Medindie at around 8pm on Saturday.
The couple were both Olympic-level cyclists, with Rohan taking home a silver medal in 2012 and a bronze in 2020 while Melissa missed out on a medal in 2012 by just 0.18 seconds.
Former world champion cyclist, Rohan Dennis (left), has been charged over the death of his Olympian wife Melissa (right) after allegedly hitting her with a car
The fatal collision happened in the wealthy North Adelaide suburb of Medindi at around 8pm on Saturday, with police announcing they had arrested and charged Rohan on Sunday morning
While she never stood on an Olympic podium, Melissa and her team would go on to win gold for the women’s pursuit at the 2015 World Championship, breaking the event’s world record.
That same year Rohan set a record for the longest distance travelled in an hour and started the Tour de France in pole position after winning the stage one individual time trial with a record-breaking pace, but finished the tour out of the top 100.
He would go on to be awarded the Sir Hubert Opperman medal and trophy for ‘s best all-round cyclist for 2015.
Rohan announced his retirement at the end of the 2023 season through an Instagram post in February, dedicating a large part of the post to his wife.
‘Thank you Melissa Dennis for supporting me throughout my entire professional career, all while raising two of the best kids I could ever ask for,’ the post reads.
Just six days prior to the alleged incident, he posted an image of the couple and their two children in front of a Christmas tree, the caption reading: ‘Merry Christmas from our family to yours’.
Melissa’s death marked the 114th life lost on the state’s roads this year, a jump from the 71 lives lost at the same time last year.
Medindie is known for its ‘old money’ real estate with colonial era houses on large plots of land, and has a median house price of $3million.
It is just minutes from the suburb of Gilberton where an Adelaide doctor was allegedly murdered inside his $2million home two weeks ago.
The silver and bronze medal winner at the 2012 and 2020 Olympics was granted bail to return to court on March 13 (pictured, Rohan)
Just six days prior to the alleged incident, Rohan posted an image of the couple and their two children in front of a Christmas tree, the caption reading: ‘Merry Christmas from our family to yours’.
A couple in the Medindie street where Melissa was allegedly fatally struck said Dr Michael Yung’s death had put everyone on edge.
‘Everyone has been a little bit more wary, unnerved after the murder of the doctor in Gilberton, making sure their gates are locked, that sort of thing,’ a married couple told The Advertiser.
‘But other than that it’s always been such a quiet street.’
Local resident Andrew Boaucaut, 71, said he heard the aftermath of the crash.
‘All I heard was just one long siren,’ Mr Boaucaut said, ‘there was no smash bang or anything like that, just the siren.’
Anyone with information is urged to contact police.
Rohan was granted bail and will return to court on March 13.