Heiko Salzwedel is a German cycling coach and team manager. After moving from his native East Germany to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in 1990, he set up the Australian Institute of Sport

Australian Institute of Sport

The Australian Institute of Sport is a sports training institution in Australia with world class facilities and support services. The Institute's headquarters is situated in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The 66.0 hectare site campus is in the northern suburb of Bruce, but some of the...

 Road Cycling/MTB programme in Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

. World class riders, such as Robbie McEwen

Robbie McEwen

Robbie McEwen is an Australian professional road bicycle racer, for on the UCI ProTour, specializing in sprint finishes...

, Cadel Evans

Cadel Evans

Cadel Lee Evans is an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Early in his career, Evans was a champion mountain biker, winning the World Cup in 1998 and 1999 and placing seventh in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the 2000 Summer Olympics in...

, Patrick Jonker

Patrick Jonker

Patrick Jonker is a retired Australian road bicycle racer from Dutch and German ancestry. He was a professional rider from 1993 to 2004...

, Henk Vogels

Henk Vogels

Henk Vogels is an Australian former professional road bicycle racer who retired from competition at the conclusion of the 2008 season, which he rode with the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team...

, Matt White, Nick Gates

Nick Gates

Nick Gates is an Australian professional road bicycle racer.In 1996, Gates won the Commonwealth Bank Classic....

 and Kathy Watt

Kathy Watt

Kathryn Ann Watt is an Australian racing cyclist who won two medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain ....

, emerged from this programme.

In 1996, as a part of the campaign to include professional riders and races in the preparation towards the Sydney Olympics 2000, he was creating the first UCI registered Australian Trade Team: the GIANT-Australian Institute of Sport

Giant-Australian Institute of Sport

The Giant-Australian Institute of Sport Cycling Team was an Australian professional cycling team sponsored by the Australian Institute of Sport and bicycle manufacturer Giant. Heiko Salzwedel and Brian Stephens were early directeur sportifs...

 Cycling Team (GIANT-AIS; later: ZVVZ-GIANT-AIS).

In 1998, he returned to Europe, working briefly as Performance Director of the German Cycling Federation (BDR) before switching to UK Sport

UK Sport

UK Sport is the UK Government's organisation for directing the development of sport within the home countries.-History:The Sports Council previously had been formed in 1972, and had the motto Sport for All. There was also the Central Council of Physical Recreation. In July 1994 it was decided to...

’s Lottery funded “Monitoring & Evaluation” unit in 2000. In 2001, he moved on to work as the Performance Manager at British Cycling

British Cycling

British Cycling is the national governing body for cycle racing in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man...

.

From 2003, amongst others, he started working as consultant for the Danish Cycling Federation. Further clients of his company SL-sports included the UCI

UCI

UCI usually refers to the Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling.UCI may also refer to:* United Cinemas International* United Kennel Clubs International...

, Speedskating Canada , Swiss Triathlon, Equipe Nuernberger, SRM and the T-Mobile Cycling Team. For the latter, he directed the T-Mobile Development Programme, which included riders such as Mark Cavendish

Mark Cavendish

Mark Cavendish MBE is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who rides for UCI ProTeam until the end of this season when the team is dissolved. He will join Team Sky at the start of the 2012 season...

, Ed Clancy

Ed Clancy

Edward Clancy MBE is an English professional track and road bicycle racer who rides for the team. On the track his specialist discipline is the pursuit. He won the first stage of the 2005 Tour of Berlin. He also won 2007 team pursuit world championship...

, Geraint Thomas

Geraint Thomas

Geraint Howell Thomas, MBE is a Welsh professional racing cyclist who rides for the UCI ProTour team . A track cycling world champion and Olympic gold medalist in the team pursuit, Thomas has also enjoyed success on the road, winning the Junior Paris-Roubaix in 2004, the British National...

 and Stefan Denifl

Stefan Denifl

Stefan Denifl is a professional cyclist who is riding for the UCI ProTour team, .Denifl began the cycling in 2001 in the "Team Bike Denifl" as Mountain Biker. In 2003, he moved to the street in the "Team ÖAMTC Recheis Lattella". From 2004 he focused on road cycling...

.

In 2005, he was appointed as Denmark’s National Track Cycling Coach. Within 3 years, he was elevating the Danish team pursuit

Team pursuit

The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, start on opposite sides of the velodrome.- Race format :...

 squad from 10th place at the 2006 World Championships in Bordeaux to Olympic Silver at the Beijing Olympics, achieving in the semifinals 3:56.831, the 2nd fastest time in the world. See also: Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's team pursuit

Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's team pursuit

The men's team pursuit at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place between August 17 and 18, at the Laoshan Velodrome.This track cycling event consisted of multiple rounds. Cyclists competed in teams of four. In the first round, each team performed a time trial on the 4 kilometer track. Times were...

In late 2008, he returned to British Cycling as Performance Manager.