Beijing road gold medallist seeking a possible second event for British games
Nicole Cooke (MCipollini-Giordana) is currently investigating the possibility of joining the Great Britain track team for the Olympic Games in London 2012. The road race gold medallist from Beijing in 2008, is looking at giving herself more options for winning medals the next time around, she told BBC Sport.
“The road race has always got a lottery factor and I’d like to do a second discipline at the Olympics,” said Cooke. “It’s about investigating what would be that second discipline. It’s too early to say if I’ll do the track Worlds.”
With five track events on the Olympic programme for London, three of them for the specialist sprinter, the most likely thing for Cooke to do would be to join the pursuit team. This would be no easy thing for the relative track novice though, as the trio of Wendy Houvenaghel, Katie Colclough and Laura Trott are the current European champions; as well as this, Houvenaghel has won the World championships in the past with teams that included Olympic individual pursuit champion Rebecca Romero, Garmin-Cervélo rider Lizzie Armitstead and Jo Rowsell, and held the World record.
Armitstead may not be included in the pursuit team in London however, as she is likely to be aiming for the Omnium. The challenge for Cooke will likely not be one of strength and fitness but technique in the most precision-based events on the track.
“I’m still in the learning about the team pursuit phase, so much of it is about technique,” Cooke explained. “There have been some good weeks and some not so good weeks. It’s very challenging and every week I’m progressing with the training drills we are doing. It’s about developing a level of consistency.
“There’s a lot of things that are new to me and it’s great to be able to set aside a such a lot of time to find out about it.”
In Beijing Cooke also rode the time trial; the race came just three days after the Welshwoman’s epic road race victory though. She was both physically and mentally exhausted and slumped to 15th place. The time trial in London will likely be ridden by Beijing silver medallist and current World champion Emma Pooley (Garmin-Cervélo); were there a second place available for the Great Britain team then Cooke may well be eligible.
“2012 is going to be a huge landmark for my career so naturally I’d like to look where I’ve got to then, reassess, re-evaluate my ambitions, my motivation in the sport and for other parts of life,” she continued.
“Right now I’m very open minded about everything.”
Cooke has had two disappointing seasons since winning Olympic gold and the World championship in 2008, but hopes that her luck has changed after signing for the new MCipollini-Giordana team alongside 2007 and 2009 World champions Marta Bastianelli and Tatiana Guderzo.
“London 2012 is the long-term target but I will have aims along the way which I’ll treat as importantly and prepare for as diligently as the Olympics,” she said. “I see them as dress rehearsals along the way that are just as important: it’s just planning and preparation.”