your comments
Don Thomas Vancouver Canada
I have avidly followd cycle racing since I was a member of the Port Talbot Wheelers Cycling Club in the late forties and early fifties.What a joy it is from halfway around the world, to find a Welsh person doing so well in a sport that so many of us enjoy.Given time, let us hope that she surpasses Beryl Burton and Jeannie Longo's achievements.
Derek Yapp from Birminham
The Olymics Road Race & the World Championship Road Race are both a bit of a lottery with the number of riders & nations competing, & the variable terrain & weather conditions . . . Nicole won them both! . . incredible!
Cllr Russell Downe
Very proud of our local girl.
Paul Evans Keith Moray
Nicole has to be the BBC sports person of the year 2008.Truly fantastic year 2008
Roy Evans from Staten Island, New York
What a wonderful achievement - Nicole winning a gold medal in the Olympics and now the World Championships in Italy. I tell all my friends in Staten Island that you are from Wales. I'm from Bridgend and ex Ogmore Valley Wheelers.
A Mathman from Barnsley
Talk about being on the edge of my seat. What a fantastic race. The way Nicole out-thought and outrode the others in the world championship. Amazing!
Paul Jones - Llantwit Major
Nicole - it was great to be part of the Olympic homecoming celebrations in your home village of Wick. Llantwit Major and Vale Cycling club were so proud to be involved with leading the Open Top Bus through the local villages.
Paul Hinchly from Cardiff
About time we had a world class athelete who is also a 1st class spokesperson for the sport. Nicole has got time for her fans AND leads by example. She spoke to my daughter and made her feel special. Thank you.
Patricia Paisley from St Brides Major
Me, my daughter Danielle Burbidge and Huw Escort are so proud of you Nicole. Well done. A gold for Wales - how fantastic!
Jessica from Eulo Australia
An amazing road racer. I look up to her so much. It is a lot of help in the outback because of the heat. I would love to be a cyclist one day. Well done Nicole.
Barbara from West Sussex
What an achievement - I always thought she could do it after years of training and winning. It isn't just Wales who love her but the whole of Great Britain. The shoes may have helped?
Taffy in New Zealand
How proud i was to hear that Nicole Cooke had won the gold. Makes me very proud to be a Welsh man living in New Zealand where they are cycling mad.
Gary from Bargoed
Watched her win gold this morning. Well done. A win for Britain, but most of all Wales.
Andrea McCulloch, from Cardiff, now Co Durham
Congratualtions Nicole. A wonderful performance that marks her out as a great Welsh (and British) Olympian. I hope she now gets the recognition in the sporting media that she always deserved.
Kevin from Nantymoel
Well done Nicole. My heart was in my mouth. Enjoy your glory like Lynn Davies has for 44 yrs. Well done.
Bill from North Wales
A fantastic achievement, great for Welsh cycling, but hardly surprising with the facilities in South Wales (i.e. three velodromes, one BMX competitive track and traffic-free road circuit) that she comes from there. North Wales is again the poor partner in this 'Welsh' set up. We have nothing but remote and shared user forests that are hardly encouraging the Nicole Cookes of the future.
Jesse Davies from Bristol
What an achievement, wining Olympic Gold on top of all her other successes. I also used to cycle with Cardiff Ajax before Nicole was there mind, and remember seeing Nicole start her cycling career at Maindy cycle track when she was very young. She is a credit to Wales and to our sport. She will get my vote for sports personality of the year, and I hope she wins it as well instead of some ponsy footballer or the like. Well done Nicole.
Susan from Pontypridd
Congratulations and well deserved gold keep it up. You are one of the best.
Bevleigh Atkins from Monmouth
We had just decided to name our wedding tables after people that win gold at the Olympics when 15 minutes later Nicole won gold! Nicole you just got the top table. From Bridgend (same as my partner) and cycling which he loves! And of course the first gold medal - what an honour. Well done.
Gwyneth Bruce, Qld, Australia (ex Dinorwig)
Never heard of her til she won the 2008 Olympics. Heard on the radio news that a Brit had won - then they added that Nicole was Welsh. Made me very proud to be Welsh. What a gem you are - keep up the great work Nicole!
Carey from Birmingham
I think Nicole is the best! I first read about her in the newspaper 2 years ago, and was amazed, as it has always been my ambition to do the womens Tour De France!
Manon, Cardiff
I love Nicole Cooke so much, it's amazing that we both come from Cardiff and she was in Cardiff ajax and that's who I'm training with now. She is also sponsored by lifeforce and I mite be aswell soon.
Dave Skarratts, Cardiff
Never heard of Nicole 'till we arrived in Cardiff, despite many years in cycling. An amazing but underated athlete who deserves far more recognition than she gets, especially in her home country. Worthy of an MBE if there was any justice in the world!
Gwyon Jenkins, Llanelli
I'm amazed that the Welsh rugby team gets more coverage that Nicole Cook (and that's coming from a "Scarlet until I die"). She is a legend. BBC Wales should be giving us far more gen about her on news bulletins etc.
Geraldine Goldsmith, High Peak
She is a fantastic sports person, who deserves FAR FAR more respect and attention from the British public. It's mainly the fault of the media who can't see past football. Like many British the media don't like cycling (except maybe when Tour de France comes to England). They have totally ignored Nicole's great achievements and I think it's a shame. She is a great role model for young women.
Carey from West Midlands
She is so good at cycling. I really want to do the Tour de France for women.
Angela Price from Dorset (ex Llandaff)
A prodigious talent, determination, dedication and skill. Wouldn't it be wonderful for her to get golds at the Olympics and World Championships, which she so richly deserves. Makes me proud to be Welsh/British. With the recent success of the British team at the World Track championships, and predicted success in the Olympics; the Tour de France starting in London, is cycling suddenly going to emerge as a more popular sport, or is football going to maintain dominance despite the fact that British teams couldn't win an argument?
Gerald Stevens, former ACME Wheeler
Nicole Cooke is a prodigious, freakish talent, and has bigger balls than any male counterpart - as brave as they come. Totally unafraid of the pain barrier. Been folllowing her progress for 10 years & I can say truthfully (and smugly!) that I predicted she would be a world-beater many years before she was. It'd be fab for her to win the 'Worlds' and Olympics, which have eluded her so far. If cycling was a major spectator sport Nicole would have won the BBC Sports Personality award 3 times by now. Knock 'em bandy Nicole (but watch out for Marianne Vos!!)
Roger Collis, Norwich
She rivals the late great Beryl Burton - who was a household name in her days (which spanned two decades). It would be marvellous if a cyclist could win as Tommy Simpson in 1965 is even longer ago than when England won the football World Cup.
Dai Rees from Maesteg
Very underrated hero who should get more recognition. Keep up the good work - we all love you in Wales.
Steve from Ashton-U-Lynn
Please, please, please, let's start to recognise the emmense talent that is Nicole Cooke! I'm talking to the general sport loving public as a whole here.....BBC, published media, everyone. Not since Beryl Burton have we had as major a talent in the sport, either men's or women's.
Norma Armstrong
I have always followed Nicole's fabulous career, not least because she bears the same surname as my maiden name. I was a cyclist a did a bit of racing myself ... I always wondered if we are related! Wishful thinking!! I too think she deserved to be 'Sportsperson of the Year' but, unfortunately our sport does not get the same recognition as it does on the Continent.
Frank Blake from the Brighton Mitre
I have followed Nicole's achievements since she was 7 and beating all of the boys. She came to our club dinner in 2003 and then to Brighton track the following day. She is BRILLIANT - I have a photo taken with her then which I treasure. She is the best!
Claire from Swansea (exile)
Nicole Cooke is a star who I'm sure will get to the very top - well, she already has really, hasn't she? Good luck, Nicole, for the Peking Olympics. You make me even more proud to be Welsh and a cyclist. Pob hwyl iddoch chi!
Phil Winks from Surrey
Nicole is number one for guts and determination. Even in the team events she is out front, leading by example. She would be a worthy winner of BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Terry from Halifax
She is lovely and the very best we have at the moment. Good looking, fit and polite, what a women.
Hannah Jones, Penzance
I'm astounded and desparing that Nicole barely gets a mention in the national press. As a Welsh exile, I didn't even know how much she had achived this year because I don't have access to BBC Wales. People WOULD like watching cycling if only we were given the opportunity to watch it, but we're never even given the slightest chance! I bet she's not even up for a BBC sports review mention, despite her achievements dwarfing everyone else's. No wonder girls are not interested in participating in sport. Nicole - we salue you.
Rory McLaughlan, Leicestershire
Number one. The best thing since sliced bread.
Paul Jennings in St Austell
If we all value Nicole's achievements then can I hope that we will all be voting for her as Sports Personality of the Year. At the moment she doesn't even get a mention on the bookies list yet there are names like Murray, Phillips, Rooney and Panesar there. What have they achieved? Apart from Zara Phillips - nothing.
George Cozens, Hereford
An under-rated world class sportswoman! The two best British performers in the land are Nicole and Zara ... either one should should Sports Personality of the Year.
Me, I'll be voting for Nicole!
Terry from Halifax
She is a true Brit rider, and very good looking also. Give em hell, Nicole.
Portsmouth
She just seems to get better. What can she achieve in the years to come? It would be good to see her against some of the so-called elite male UK riders.
Michael in Port Talbot
Truly world class in a very tough sport.
Andy Robjohns from Dartford, Kent
This lady should be in the running for Sports personality of the year!
Reg Oakley, Sevenoaks
A truly wonderful champion.
Amin
Without the minimum doubt the greatest cyclist male or female the UK and Wales in particular have ever produced. At 23 years old she has already won more than any of the men in their entire careers. For anyone who loves cycling she is a national treasure and will probably end up as the greatest female cyclist the world has ever seen. Time to move over Jeannie Longo.
Patrick Simpson from Stevenage
Gill from Wigan - don't worry that Nicole Cooke doesn't get the coverage you'd expect in British sports news. That's true for most British cyclists; they're not news unless they fail a drugs test! Nicole Cooke might not get the quantity of recognition you'd expect from the mainstream press, but she gets an amazing amount of the quality recognition she deserves among cycling fans and press.
Gill from Wigan
It is such a pity that her fantastic achivements are not even mentioned on national news when other elite sporting women like Paula Radcliffe are recognised by the British media for their success. Carry on Nicole - the rest of the world acknowledge you.
Ffion Jones in Cardiff
Fantastic talent. We need more Nicoles to reaffirm Wales on the world's sports map.
Chris Kind from Llanmaes
Despite her tender years ... she triumphed over a hatful of her contemporaries in the Welsh Sports Personality of the Year.
Hywel James from Cwmbran, now Surrey
Her standing in a truly international sport marks her out as the outstanding Welsh sportsperson of 2003.
Young world-beating cyclist
Nicole has every major title under her belt including World Junior Mountain Bike Champion, British Senior Women's Cyclo-Cross Champion, Senior British Road Racing Champion and the World Junior Road Race title. But she reached new heights in August 2002 when she won gold for Wales in the road race at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
