37 Facts About Nicole Cooke

Nicole Cooke was born in Swansea, and grew up in Wick, Vale of Glamorgan.

Nicole Cooke attended Brynteg Comprehensive School in Bridgend, where she gained the Rankin Prize, awarded each year for the highest academic achievement by a girl at GCE A Levels.

Nicole Cooke began cycling at 11, starting at Cardiff Ajax Cycling Club of which she is a life member.

Later that year Nicole Cooke won her second senior women's title at the 2001 British National Road Race Championships.

Nicole Cooke won four UCI World Championship Junior titles, the road race in 2000, and the unique treble of mountain bike, time trial and road race in 2001.

Nicole Cooke turned professional for the Spanish-Ukrainian Deia-Pragma-Colnago team at the start of the 2002 season, basing herself in Forli, Italy where she shared a house with Australian rider and future Wiggle High5 founder Rochelle Gilmore and learned Italian.

Nicole Cooke said her strength left her in her first Tour de France, aged 19, and a meeting in the team campervan suggested "medicines" to help her.

Nicole Cooke was runner-up in the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year competition.

Nicole Cooke signed for the Acca Due O'Team for 2003 and a new UCI regulation limiting team sizes split the Acca Due O squad in two for 2003 so Nicole Cooke rode for the new Ausra Gruodis-Safi Team with many of the younger riders.

In 2003 Nicole Cooke won La Fleche Wallonne Feminine, the Amstel Gold Race, the GP de Plouay and the GP San Francisco.

Nicole Cooke was the 2003 UCI Women's Road World Cup champion, youngest to win the competition and the first Briton.

Nicole Cooke was voted BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

Nicole Cooke won the GP Wallonie, Trofeo Alfredo Binda and the Trofeo Citta di Rosignano.

Nicole Cooke came second in the UCI Road World Championships.

In October 2005 the Welsh Cycling Union selection commission decided to send a full team of six male riders to the 2006 Commonwealth Games, centered on supporting the aspirations of the National Coach Julian Winn, but decided that Nicole Cooke would be sent as a one-person team to defend her title.

On 1 August 2006 Nicole Cooke took over as number 1 on the UCI's women's world road race rankings.

Nicole Cooke won the 2006 Grande Boucle, the women's Tour de France, by over 6 minutes.

Nicole Cooke came third in the UCI World Road Race Championships.

In 2007, Nicole Cooke took the Geelong World Cup and the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the first two races on the 2007 UCI Women's Road World Cup.

Nicole Cooke won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda for a second time, the Tour of Geelong, stage 2 of the GP Costa Etrusca and defended her Grande Boucle title.

Nicole Cooke later admitted in an interview in 2008 that she had considered quitting the sport due to the injury.

Nicole Cooke represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in the Women's Road Race where she won the gold on 10 August 2008, the 200th gold for Great Britain in the Modern Olympic Games.

Nicole Cooke became the first cyclist, male or female, of any nation, to become the road race World Champion and Olympic gold medalist in the same year.

Nicole Cooke credited her teammates for their work, pulling back the 12-rider break with 1 lap to go, putting Cooke back in contention.

Nicole Cooke was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 New Year Honours.

Nicole Cooke was awarded the Transworld Sport "Female Athlete of the Year" title in recognition of her achievements in 2008.

Nicole Cooke was awarded the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year award.

In June 2009 Nicole Cooke captured the Giro del Trentino title and won her tenth British National Road Race Championships title.

Nicole Cooke raced and trained with the British cycling team in the 2010 season.

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games Nicole Cooke placed fifth in the Women's Road Race, and at the 2010 UCI Road World Championships Nicole Cooke finished fourth in the road race.

In November 2010 Nicole Cooke joined the Italian-based Mcipollini-Giordana team for 2011.

At the 2012 UCI Road World Championships Nicole Cooke finished 60th, five minutes behind winner Marianne Vos.

Nicole Cooke announced her retirement from the sport on 14 January 2013 at the age of 29.

In March 2014, Nicole Cooke was reported to be studying for an MBA at Cardiff University.

Since retirement Nicole Cooke has repeatedly spoken out campaigning for gender equality in sport and stronger investigatory powers for the anti-doping bodies.

In January 2017, Nicole Cooke gave written and oral evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport inquiry into Combatting Doping in Sport and stated that her information about doping in cycling, given as evidence to UKAD was not investigated by UKAD.

Nicole Cooke appeared in Christmas University Challenge representing Cardiff University in a program that first aired on 1 January 2018.