Romero Wins Gold, And Makes Olympic History
by Justin Davis
BEIJING, Aug 17, 2008 (AFP) - Britain’s Rebecca Romero made Olympic history here Sunday when she became just the second woman to claim medals in two different sports at the summer Games.
England’s Romero dominated an all-British track cycling individual pursuit final to leave Wendy Houvenaghel of Northern Ireland with the silver medal after posting a winning time of three minutes 28.32 seconds for the three-kilometre event.
Lesya Kalitovska of the Ukraine defeated New Zealand’s Alison Shanks to win the bronze medal.
“It’s not the way I imagined it to feel, but it’s magic!” said Romero.
“It’s pretty incredible. I’m so proud of myself. If it were easy, so many people would have done it already. I wanted a gold, I wanted to be a champion. Now I’ve put my mark down to be remembered.”
Hers was the first Olympic gold medal for Britain in the event, and came a day after team-mate Bradley Wiggins successfully defended his individual pursuit crown in the men’s four-kilometre race.
Romero’s win, five months after her maiden world title, meant Britain have now claimed an impressive four golds from five of what will ultimately be 10 track finals.
British riders have also now won eight of the 15 medals up for grabs so far.
Romero, who won an Olympic rowing silver four years ago in the women’s quadruple sculls, followed in the footsteps of Roswitha Krause of the former East Germany.
Krause won a swimming silver at the 1968 Games in Mexico from the women’s 4×100m relay, then won silver in the women’s handball final at the 1976 Games in Montreal, and won handball bronze at Moscow in 1980.
The 28-year-old Romero was disappointed with her Olympic achievement in Athens. Just two years after taking up her new sport, she said there was no way she was settling for silver again.
“I’d have been absolutely crushed if I got the silver,” said Romero, who only took up cycling seriously in 2006 after giving up rowing due to a recurring back problem.”
Houvenaghel only took up cycling six years ago, but won world championship bronze in the individual pursuit and gold in the non-Olympic team event at Manchester in March.
Formerly an amateur cross-country runner, she discovered a talent for time-trialling in 2002 not long after she had run the London Marathon for the first time in April of that year.
Although being pushed into road time-trialling by her cycling enthusiast husband, she was inspired to take up track cycling after she saw Scotland’s Chris Hoy win gold in the kilometre at Athens in 2004.
On Sunday, the 33-year-old Houvenaghel suffered from the effects of her fast rides on Saturday.
She was never really in gold contention and finished just over two seconds behind Romero.
But even as Romero screamed out in joy as she brandished a Union Jack flag, Houvenaghel still had a huge smile on her face.
“It’s great to get silver, and for Rebecca to get gold as well,” said Houvenaghel.
“It’s the best I could do today, considering I did two pursuits (in qualifying) yesterday. I couldn’t go faster. I did my best and I have to make peace with that.”
Romero added: “I’m ecstatic for her (Houvenaghel). She’s a great athlete.
She has given me a memorable Olympics.”
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