http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/08/17/olympics.cycling.ap/index.html
BEIJING, China (AP) -- Rebecca Romero of Britain took the gold medal in the women's individual pursuit on the cycling track on Sunday by beating her compatriot Wendy Houvenaghel, while the British men's pursuit team broke the world record on their way to Monday's final.
Rebecca Romero defeated Britain teammate Wendy Houvenaghel in the women's individual pursuit final.
Romero's was Britain's fourth gold of the five events decided so far at the Laoshan Velodrome. Lesya Kalitovska of Ukraine took the bronze.
"I've done what I said I was going to do. I knew it was going to be the toughest race of my life. I hope I'm not going to wake up," said Romero, who becomes the first British woman to take Olympic medals in two different sports. She won a silver medal in rowing in 2004.
Romero had feared her Olympic dream was gone when she arrived in Beijing and in training recorded the slowest time she'd set all year. But she "faced the demons again" and came through for victory.
Romero said her biggest regret was that her coach, Dan Hunt, could not be with her for the final race -- because he coaches Houvenaghel as well.
Not long ago, neither Romero nor Houvenaghel had ever sat on a racing bike.
Houvenaghel, a dental surgeon from Northern Ireland, only took up cycling at the age of 27 to keep her husband company on his training rides. She was soon out-racing him.
Romero decided two years ago that she wanted a new challenge after suffering a back injury, so she traveled to Britain's national cycling center in Manchester to have a go at track racing. She was an immediate success, taking the silver medal in the 2007 world championships and then in March of this year becoming world champion.