Cycling: Romero gives up on Olympics

Rebecca Romero, one of the few athletes to win an Olympic medal in two different sports, has left the British Olympic cycling programme.

Romero said in a statement yesterday she felt she was "no longer on a pathway which will see me fulfil my Olympic ambition to win a second gold medal".

Romero has struggled to make the British team in recent times, and was omitted from the squad for this year's track cycling world championships.

The 31-year-old cyclist won the gold medal in the individual pursuit at the Beijing Games, four years after she took a silver medal in rowing. She is one of only two women in history to win a medal in two different sports.