OLYMPIC LINKS

While the Olympics are on, makes you think back to our Fatima Whitbread and Kelly Holmes - here are some pictures taken a couple of years ago at Chafford Hundred, Essex - such a lovely day!

Nice link to Nicole Cooke, first of the gold winners in Beijing. Wish I could ride a bike like Nicole. She was a classmate of our lovely Louise at Brynteg School in Bridgend. Few details below:

Nicole Cooke - World-beating cyclist
Born:13 APR 1983
Place of Birth: Wick
School: Brynteg Comprehensive School, Bridgend
Famous For: World-beating cyclist
Trivia: At the age of 12, Nicole declared on television that her ambition was to win Olympic gold.
Biography: A world-beating cyclist who now has an Olympic gold medal to go with her Commonwealth and World Cup honours.
Nicole has every major title under her belt including World Junior Mountain Bike Champion, British Senior Women's Cyclo-Cross Champion, Senior British Road Racing Champion and the World Junior Road Race title. But she reached new heights in August 2002 when she won gold for Wales in the road race at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Nicole proved her consistency by winning the World Cup in August 2003 - the first Briton to take the title and the youngest ever victor at the age of 20.

The Élite Cymru member hasn't neglected her studies - she passed her A-levels (Maths, Biology and Geography) in 2001 with flying colours at Brynteg Comprehensive, whose past pupils include rugby star Rob Howley and legendary long jumper Lynn "The Leap" Davies.

Having been deemed too young to go to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Nicole geared up for Athens 2004 by winning the Giro d'Italia - considered the women's version of the Tour de France - in July 2004 at her first attempt.

Her moment of Glory? Yesterday, of course!