Local girl aims for two Olympic medals in two sports

8:39am Sunday 24th February 2008

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REBECCA Romero's bid to win Olympic medals in two different sports is gathering momentum.

Having won silver in the quadruple sculls in Athens the rower-turned-cyclist is now bidding to become only the second woman in Olympic history to win medals in two different sports.

And she is bang on course to do it and become one of the most remarkable Olympians of all time.

On Sunday she romped to victory in the 3,000 metres cycling World Cup pursuit in Copenhagen to claim her first gold medal since swapping paddles for pedals.

She qualified fastest and then beat South Africa's Vilija Sereikaite in the final to establish herself as a genuine gold medal contender for the 3,000m pursuit in Beijing.

She finished in three minutes and 35 seconds, almost five seconds faster than Sereikaite, to move third in the overall World Cup standings, with Sereikaite taking the overall title.

Romero said: "It was my first gold medal as a cyclist after a number of silvers.

"It is a long time since I was on top of a podium standing there for the national anthem and it was a fabulous feeling."

When she first took up cycling it was only meant to be just for fun and to fill the void after retiring from rowing.

She never dreamed she would be where she is now.

She said: "When I was first thinking about having a go at cycling it was just to have a dabble and to have a go on a local level.

"I was astonished as my times kept coming down. I wondered if there was an element of fluke about it or if the other competitors were just having a bad day."

Her talent was soon recognised though and she is now fully-funded as a cyclist and her third place in the World Cup has booked her place in Beijing.

And having got this far she wants to medal again - and this time capture gold.

She is in the process of selling her Lane End home to move to Manchester to be closer to the national velodrome.

She said: "I was lucky to make it in rowing, my niche sport, and you don't presume for one minute that you would be capable of doing it in another sport."

She said: "When I was at school I was average at everything. I knew I could never be a runner, I couldn't jump and I didn't have the hand eye coordination for other racket sports.

"My intention when I retired from rowing was to go down to the pub and do the things that everyone else does but somehow I ended up in this awful position and I am delaying the social life for a few more years again.

"I had accepted that I had retired and I was happy with the fact that I would be watching the Beijing Olympics at home on television."

She retired from rowing during her rehabilitation from a back injury when she realised she was not missing being out on the water.

Aiming for another Olympics was not even on the radar when she looked for a new sport to fill her time when she recovered from the disc injury.

She said: "That was never the aim until I had some testing and realised that I could do something in this sport.

"Then the aim was to make it to Olympic selection standard and now that's been escalated to an Olympic medal and now Olympic champion.

"It doesn't matter what sport it is the aim is purely to get onto the podium again."

Her victory in Denmark has raised the bar.

She said: "It was a massive positive step. To win was a big bonus for me but I have to draw a line under it. Because you are only as good as your next race. I can't rest on my backside and think the rest will take care of itself.

"It's promising and it shows what I can do but I have to pretend I am still outside the medal positions and striving to get there. I feel I can get even better."

But it has focused her mind and she is now happier than ever that she made the switch.

She said: "Part of the reason I retired from rowing is that there is so much to do in life. I didn't just want to be a rower for 20 years doing the same thing.

"I love the challenge of something new.

"If I won gold in Beijing then why not think about doing another sport at the 2012 Olympics and seeing if I can win medals in three different sports?

"I want to explore my limits in rowing and cycling and then who knows, maybe something else for the next Olympics - beach volleyball."