Emma Pooley

Nickname

Em. (NOC, 31 Jul 2008)

Hobbies

Cooking. (NOC, 31 Jul 2008)

Occupation

Student

Education

Engineering - Cambridge University , Cambridge, GBR

Language(s) spoken

Spanish, English

Club name

AA Drink-Leontien.nl, Netherlands

Coach

Chris Newton [national coach] (GBR) (cyclo.co.uk, 16 Mar 2012)

Position and style

Climber (cyclingnews.com, 08 Oct 2007)

Injuries

She sustained a knee injury after crashing in April 2007. (cyclingnews.com, 08 Oct 2007)

Additional information

Start of sporting career
She started cycling at age 11 and she entered her first race in 2005. (NOC, 31 Jul 2008)

Reason for taking up this sport
She took up cycling as a means of cross training when she was injured. She was a competitive runner before moving to triathlons. She entered her first cycling race after a friend at her triathlon club persuaded her to join a race. (britishcycling.org.uk, 31 Aug 2010)

Ambitions
To compete at the 2012 Olympic Games in her hometown of London. (cyclingnews.com.au, 03 Oct 2007)

Training
Her training base is in Australia. (Cycling News, 23 Jan 2012)

Most memorable sporting achievement
"I will always remember my first road race win, the Rund um Schonaich in Germany in 2007. Getting a silver medal in Beijing in 2008 and winning the world championship time trial in Geelong in 2010 were the absolute highlights. And winning the Tour de l'Aude in 2010 was utterly wonderful, because it was such a fantastic team effort." (britishcycling.org.uk, 08 Jul 2011)

Hero
English long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe. (my.alumni.cam.ac.uk, 26 Mar 2012)

Most influential person in career
Brynn Kvinlaug, the person who convinced her to go to her first road race. (NOC, 31 Jul 2008)

General
ACADEMIC
She is currently studying part time for a PhD in geotechnical engineering at ETH Zurich. (podium.ac.uk, 13 Feb 2012)

CALL FOR UCI AND WOMEN'S PELOTON TO DO MORE TO PROMOTE WOMEN'S CYCLING
She believes that the international cycling body, the International Cycling Union [UCI], should be doing more to promote women's cycling by campaigning to get more women's races televised, which would make the sport more attractive to sponsors. She thinks that the women's peloton should be more active. "A lot of the problems are down to the fact that there isn't much representation at the UCI from women. I think the women's peloton needs to get together and petition hard for this because a few people like me are just told they're whinging about nothing. It's not my intention to whinge and I'm grateful for the chance to do my job but I do think it could be improved. The women need to get together and argue more strongly for more women's races at men's races, and more women's teams that can attract more sponsors." (bbc.co.uk, 07 Dec 2011; cyclingnews.com, 24 Jan 2012)

Previous Olympics

Beijing 2008