Romero leads one-two

A rowing silver medallist in Athens in the quadruple sculls, Romero switched sports and made her competitive debut only two years ago. She won two world championship titles in March.

Yet she questions her sporting ability.

"I was never really good at any sports," Romero said. "I never really thought I was good at riding bikes. It's just hard work."

Romero proved she was indeed good at riding a bicycle when she beat her Olympic village room mate and fellow Briton Wendy Houvenaghel in the gold medal race. Lesya Kalitovska of Ukraine took the bronze after beating Alison Shanks of New Zealand.

Romero dominated the head-to-head race against Houvenaghel from the beginning, reaching a speed of nearly 52 kph over the 12 lap race.

Shortly before Romero's golden ride, her former rowing team mates were beaten by China for the gold medal in the women's quadruple sculls. In contrast to Romero's victory lap, her former team mates sat slumped in their boat after losing out to China.

British cycling coach Dan Hunt said they had been following the rowing and he told Romero the results before she headed to the start line for her own race.

"I said come on now, let's go one better," Hunt said.

Romero said winning the gold lifted a huge weight off her shoulders.

"It's been so hard, I can't explain. I was facing my demons but I knew I had it in me," she said.

"I had to actually check it was me when I crossed the finish line."

Romero said it was not easy adjusting to riding on a velodrome, with its steep, banked curves.

"It's quite a daunting prospect to ride up there, especially on a pursuit bike," she said.

Romero has said she was scared the first time rode on the track.

"When I look back to that day it's like, 'what was the big deal?' But I have to look back to the first few weeks, the first few months and realise how far I've come and how difficult it is."

Age: 28 (date of birth: Jan 24, 1980)

Place of birth: Carshalton, Britain

Career achievements:

Cycling

Two gold medals at 2008 World Championships (3km individual pursuit and team pursuit)

Silver medallist at 2007 World Championships (3km individual pursuit)

Rowing

Gold medallist, 2005 World Championships (quadruple sculls)

Previous Olympic results:

Silver medallist, 2004 Olympics (quadruple sculls)

Romero competed for Britain as a rower before turning to track cycling. The official reason for her sudden retirement from rowing in 2006 was a back injury, but she has since admitted that she was disillusioned with a sport that no longer offered her any enjoyment. She claims to have been miserable throughout most of her senior rowing career.