Nicole Cooke
The first thing, as a sports person that being British means to me is the honour to represent my country in World Championships, Olympic Games and competitions all around the world.
I wear my British cycling jersey with pride the colours Red, White and Blue and the Union Jack Flag give me strength knowing that the British population follows sport very closely and is supporting me in my sporting quest for glory.
Thinking during a race that if I win I will hear the British National Anthem at the end as I stand on the winner’s rostrum is a very motivating feeling and I feel so proud each time our Union Jack is raised amongst the flags of the other medallists. Our flag looks the best, it is bold, easily recognisable through out the world and I feel it stands for the history of our country, when Britain was leading the world in exploration, discovery and fighting World Wars for those who could not defend themselves against the evils of this world.
There are times when I do not win and having to endure another competitor’s National anthem is always a difficult moment. I imagine it means a lot to the rider of that country but every time I hear my British anthem it stirs so many emotions because it always makes me recall very proud moments in my life!
When I have visitors from abroad come to visit me, I love showing them around Britain. We have a fantastic heritage and locally to me in Wales, we have castles, towns and beautiful landscapes which reflect our history. I always enjoy showing off the best London has to offer too! Buckingham Palace, the Mall, the parks, Westminster, Trafalgar Square, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus: so many famous buildings and locations with an amazing story.
Welsh professional road-racing cyclist Nicole Cooke added Olympic gold to her world no1 ranking, and previous British and Commonwealth titles, with victory in the women’s road race at the 2008 Beijing games. See BBC Sport coverage of her triumph.
Picture courtesy of British Cycling.
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Congratulations to Nicole on her fantastic success. It’s great to see her getting the national recognition she’s long deserved.
There was a very telling moment in the BBC coverage, in the final moments of the race, where the commentator worries that she’s blown it. It was almost as if he was expecting a heroic failure - another example of what has become a great British sporting tradition. Henman, Radcliffe, any England penalty shootout… and now, for a brief moment, Cooke.
Does that tell us something about modern Britishness, maybe: the demand that Britain should be in the final shake-up, but an expectation that someone else will win in the end?
I can’t help thinking that the explosions of national delight at recent sporting successes - England’s Rugby World Cup win, beating Australia in the Ashes - were mainly the surprise that, you know what? Sometimes the British guys actually can pull it off.
Congratulations on your success Nicole.
As a Welsh woman you have the best of both worlds. You are British - you have UK citizenship - and you have your nationality, Welsh, recognised constitutionally through devolved democratic institutions, along with a multitude of civic Welsh institutions.
We English aren’t so lucky, there is no representation for England within the Union. Even the British-Irish Council refuses to recognise England as a nation. There is no English national museum, portrait gallery, government, parliament, and we can’t even have the Cross of St George flying above the parliament to which we elect our representatives.
The Union flag and national anthem used to inspire positive emotions in me, but no more. Today I see the constitution of the British state as undemocratic, anachronistic and anti-English.
yes well done Nicole, but your britishness and british flag you dropped at the border. This is a suits me united kingdom nowadays. The chinese ban on home nations flags at the olympics still applies in one nation of the uk.
England.
This site is about being British and yet the editor couldn’t resist writing ‘Welsh professional road racing Nicole Cooke’. That just about sums it up.
Of course if the piece had been about one of the English gold medallists, the word English would have not been used.
The BBC failed to mention when Olympic athletes were English eg. Rebecca Addlington British double gold medal winner yet kept on mentioning that Chris Hoy is a Scottish cyclist.
To me being British means nothing. I am English and I look foward to the Commonwealth Games when surley even the BBC will have to say English.
Well done to you, Nicole! I raise a glass to your success and wish you a great sporting future.
To me the Union Flag means The West Lothian Question, asymmetric devolution, the Barnett Formula, and a refusal to recognise England as a nation whilst recognising Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
I was glad to see your recepton in Wales was awash with Welsh Dragon flags. I raised a Cross of St George to all England’s atheletes in similar vein.
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