Features

Rio Tinto's Sharon Laws played a key role in what the BBC hailed as an "astonishing display of dedicated teamwork" that resulted in team mate Nicole Cooke winning a gold medal for Britain in the women's cycling road race at the Beijing Olympics.

Nicole also paid tribute to the support, strength and strategic skill of her two team mates in helping to secure the first gold medal of Great Britain's campaign in Beijing.

Sharon is a biodiversity adviser to the corporate HSE team in Melbourne. Her role in the win was all the more remarkable because just weeks before the Olympics she crashed and broke her ankle while filming a BBC special in the UK.

She underwent surgery, then worked hard with the British cycling team medics and physiotherapists in Manchester to be fit for Beijing. A week after her operation, she was back on the bike in the gym, and her determination to make it to China paid off.

In the race, Sharon and the third British competitor, Emma Pooley, helped set the pace near the front for much of the race. It was raining heavily, and despite being involved in two crashes, Sharon got back on her bike and kept going. The second crash meant that Sharon lost contact with the main group. Nicole Cooke was able to ride defensively and save herself for a fantastic uphill sprint towards the finish, overtaking the four leading riders. Less than a minute later, Emma and Sharon crossed the line.

"Emma and Sharon did an awesome job in supporting Nicole in her race for gold," said Simon Clegg, the British Olympic Association chief.

"We all knew that we were good riders, but the best chance that we had was to ride as a team," said Nicole. Talking to BBC presenter Sue Barker, Nicole added: "Emma and Sharon deserve part of this medal, because we rode as a team, and we won as a team."