The first gold medal for Great Britain has been won by Nicole Cooke in the women’s cycling road race.
The 23 year old Welsh girl timed her end sprint to perfection to collect Britain’s first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics and the 200th since the start of the modern games.
Second place went to Emma Johansson and third place to Tatiana Guderzo. The pre-race favourite, Marianne Vos of the Netherlands, finished in a group of riders about 21 seconds adrift of the winner.
The 126 kilometre race was run in cold, wet and treachorous conditions.