Olympics: Victory Splash and Dash Opens the Way for Medal Rush

Given that Nicole Cooke had already conquered most of the significant peaks in women's cycling on the road to Olympic gold, her thrilling victory in the shadow of the Great Wall yesterday should not come as a shock.

It was, however, a bonus, and one as welcome as the rain that drenched the peloton on the 126km of road from Beijing to Badaling yesterday and brought blessed relief to a city that has sweltered since the Olympic caravan arrived over a week ago. There is precious little certainty in Olympic sport, and even less in events of the length and difficulty of the road race. Many hoped Cooke could deliver but no one inside the team was taking it for granted.

Four years ago in Athens she was well-fancied to win but, having joined the decisive break at the head of the field, she fell out of the medals and finished fifth. That race demonstrated that, while Cooke's track-cycling compatriots operate to tolerances of a hundredth of a second, form and class are a far more reliable guide to medals indoors than out.

Having watched Cooke deliver yesterday, however, Britain's team management will be hoping that her victory will prompt a reprise of the Sydney 2000 medal rush sparked by Jason Queally's unexpected gold on the first day of the games.

Queally's potential was well known inside British Cycling in 2000 but the result was gloriously unexpected beyond the confines of the team and was news not only to the watching public but also to some members of Team GB. His apparently shock victory provided a huge boost to the rest of the British athletes, who went on to win 28 medals, 11 of them gold.

The impetus of an early medal was noticeable by its absence four years ago in Athens, when it took the start of the sailing medal races and the debut of the track cyclists on the second weekend to spark the team into life.

After a moderate start to these Games that has seen medal prospects such as the women's archery team come close without sealing the deal, it is to be hoped that Cooke's demonstration of how to win, and the delight that spread across her face as the Union flag was raised in the Chinese countryside, will energise her compatriots who watched the race on a big screen in the Team GB offices in the athletes' village.

This team is the best funded ever to travel to a Games, having benefited from £235m. And with the government promising to review funding levels after the Games, meeting expectations has seldom been more important.

Peter Keen, the performance director of UK Sport, was head of the cycling team in 2000. He agreed that Cooke's performance could prove inspirational.

"I hope that it will spark the whole team into life," he said. "We have seen solid performances but no fireworks yet, so hopefully they will start now. It's relatively early on to get a gold medal and that was a really important medal because expectations are very high. But I hope that will help the team reach the level that I believe they are."

Keen paid tribute to Cooke and her team-mates Sharon Laws and Emma Pooley, who helped break the resistance of the field with a well-timed break close to the finish. "It was a brilliantly ridden race by Nicole, but for once we had people in with her who could support her. Emma Pooley's attack was absolutely critical and to see three women riding like that for Britain was fantastic."

Simon Clegg, chef de mission of Team GB, said the importance of an early gold should not be underestimated. "You always want to get an early medal because it gives confidence to the whole of the team and it doesn't get much better than gold on day two of the Games," he said. "We have a medal board here but we don't erect it until we have something to put on it, but it is up now and every time the team walk in or out of the accommodation they will see Nicole Cooke's name."

Clegg said that he was pleased with the performance of the team so far despite the failure of the women's archery team and judoka Craig Fallon to deliver on their outside chances of medals.

"I'm very happy with what I have seen so far. We've had three boxers fight and all three have made the second round, we had really good performances at the rowing lake, with the women's quad qualifying straight through, and both badminton players won. But the fillip that comes from this for the overall team could be really valuable."

Britons on bikes going for gold

Shanaze Reade

Women's BMX

The 20-year-old from Crewe is a cycling phenomenon. She dominated her BMX rivals this year, but also took to the velodrome in Manchester for the track world championships in March, winning the team sprint.

Victoria Pendleton

Women's match sprint

Pendleton confessed she was disappointed with ninth in the sprint and sixth in the 500m time-trial at Athens in 2004. Since then she has won three of the past four sprints at the world championships.

Bradley Wiggins

Men's individual pursuit, team pursuit, madison

Has four medals from the past two Olympics, including a gold in Athens. If he repeats his stellar performance of Manchester he will become the first Briton to win three golds at a single Games.

Mark Cavendish

Men's madison

Shot to prominence during the Tour de France last month. In only his second appearance in the race the Manxman won four stages (a British record), beating some of the sport's best sprinters.

Rebecca Romero

Women's pursuit and points race

A silver medalist in rowing at Athens (in the quad sculls), Romero only took up cycling two years ago. A year later she won silver at the world track championships, followed by two golds at Manchester. Could become the first British woman to win in two sports.

Chris Hoy

Men's sprint, team sprint and keirin

At his third Olympics, the 32-year-old Scot won silver in Sydney in 2000 and gold in the kilometer sprint in Athens. Hoy is aiming for three golds, despite the kilometer not being on the Beijing program.