She was a dominant cyclist in the 1990s and early 2000s, winning four gold medals at the Olympic Games and holding the hour record for women from 2003 until 2015.

Van Moorsel dropped out of cycling in 1994 with anorexia nervosa[2] but recovered to compete at the World Championships in 1998, winning the time trial and coming second in the road race.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she fell in the penultimate lap of the road race and was stretchered off and taken to the hospital by ambulance,[3] but nevertheless successfully defended her time trial title two days later.

She set a new world hour record for women of 46.065 km, in 2003 in Mexico City,[4] which was not improved upon for almost 12 years, when UCI rule changes prompted a new succession of attempts.

[5] In September 2017, Van Moorsel was accused by sports physician Peter Janssen of using EPO in 2000 and 2001.