A mountain biker banned from Australia’s Beijing Olympic team last year was jailed for at least nine months yesterday for running down a fellow rider.

Cycling Australia will consider further punishment for 30-year-old Chris Jongewaard at a disciplinary hearing in Melbourne on Monday. He also faces a civil suit from Matthew Rex, the former training partner he knocked from a bike while driving drunk south of Adelaide in 2007.

Rex suffered a broken back, hip and leg and internal bleeding when he was knocked from his bike in the dark by Jongewaard, the injuries ending his cycling career.

In the South Australian District Court on Friday, Judge Wayne Chivell refused defense requests to suspend Jongewaard’s jail term, ordering him to immediately start serving his time in jail.

He sentenced Jongewaard to two years jail with a nine-month non-parole period and also disqualified him from driving for 10 years.

Jongewaard was last month found guilty of aggravated driving without due care and leaving the scene of an accident.

A four-time national mountain bike champion, Jongewaard has also ridden in major international road cycling events, including the Tour Down Under.

Last year he lost his place in Australia’s team to compete at the Beijing Olympics after being charged over the hit-and-run crash.

Jongewaard’s last competition for Australia came last week when he finished 15th in the cross-country event at the world mountain bike championships in Canberra.