'Brownie' tries his best to keep spirits up

Graeme Brown, dual cycling gold medallist at the Athens Olympic Games and based in Italy with Ceramica Panaria - Navigare, has arrived in Germany to be with his sister, Katie, one of the cyclists injured in Monday's tragedy.

His sister's "spirits are reasonably good considering the circumstances. I've been acting pretty silly to make her laugh and keep her happy," he said.

"She's been having trouble sleeping because the accident keeps replaying in her mind and she wakes up crying from the nightmares. But the psychologist says that's normal in the first 24 to 48 hours following a trauma like this."

"A big crew of Australian riders came to visit her before they raced and my mum and dad and Kate Nichols' folks arrived at about the same time, so we were all in the same room and it was almost a bit too loud."

Brown said his sister now knows of Amy's death, but they are letting her deal with it in her own way and with the aid of the psychologist, who spent the night in the hospital room she shares with Kate Nichols, so she could be a friendly face when Katie awoke from a nightmare.

"She talks about it when she wants to but when she sees someone new it makes her cry because she wants to explain it again and remember it," he said. "But that's probably a good thing because she's talking her way through it and getting it off her chest.

"We're all here for each other and that's what's important," he said. "I was pretty upset when I first saw her and I still get very emotional but I go outside when that happens so I don't get upset in front of her."