Enjoyed an outstanding junior career

"National Lottery funding has taken the pressure off financially, meaning that I can concentrate on making the best decisions regarding my training and racing on the way to becoming Olympic Champion without having to make compromises."

She first started cycling at 11 and it was the beginning of a story that took her to victory in the Road Race in Beijing last summer, the first Briton to win gold at the 2008 Olympics.

Her success was the product of her outstanding junior career. At 16, Cooke was the youngest rider to win the National Championships and two years after that she achieved a similar status in the National Cyclocross Championships.

A series of magnificent triumphs have followed since, including the Commonwealth Games Road Race in Manchester in 2002 and the 2006 Grande Boucle, the women's equivalent of the Tour de France.

In 2009, it was another exceptional year for Cooke as she won the British Road Race champion for a 10th time.

She produced a superb race to finish fourth at the Road World Championships in Australia in 2010 and then, just over a week later at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, she was fifth.

The defence of her Olympic road title in 2012 remains the target and Cooke is preparing for that by joining the Italian team Mario Cipollini - Giordana.