Nicole Denise Cooke, MBE is a Welsh former professional road bicycle racer and Commonwealth, Olympic and World road race champion. At Beijing in 2008 she became the first British woman to win a Gold Olympic medal in any cycling discipline. Cooke announced her retirement from the sport on 14 January 2013 at the age of 29.
Cooke on the podium after winning the 2007 Geelong World Cup
Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. Team Australia celebrate beating World No 1 Nicole Cooke of Wales, the defending Champion, who Team Wales had sent to compete on her own. Team Wales sent a full squad of six for the men's race, none of whom finished the race. In her autobiography Cooke wrote "By their decision the WCU had gifted Australia, Canada, England and New Zealand my head on a plate".
Cooke wearing the British National Road Race Champion's jersey in the 2010 Flèche Wallonne Féminine, a race she won on three occasions, 2003, 2005 & 2006.
The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, was an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August 2002. The event was to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coincide with the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II, head of the Commonwealth, and Manchester was selected for the 2002 Games ahead of London using a recycled part of the project, which lost the 2000 Summer Olympics and Paralympics to Sydney, Australia. The 2002 Commonwealth Games was, prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics, the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing the London 1948 Summer Olympics in terms of teams and athletes participating. The 2002 Commonwealth Games had the largest number of events of any Commonwealth Games in history, featuring 281 events across 17 sports.
Manchester was selected by the Commonwealth Games Council of England as the official bid city from England for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
The City of Manchester Stadium hosted Athletics and Rugby Sevens events
Manchester Aquatics Centre hosted Diving and Swimming events
The Manchester Arena hosted the boxing and netball events
