Bobsleigh

PARIS - Britain's Olympic bobsledder Gillian Cooke became an Internet hit when her skintight racing suit split open, revealing her bottom to a stunned, worldwide TV audience.

But despite over a million YouTube viewers now being familiar with her anatomy, the 27-year-old would prefer people were able see footage of her and Nicola Minichiello lifting gold for the two-women bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics.

Cooke's 'wardrobe malfunction' unexpectedly gave her sport a brief moment in the spotlight, but she has since laughed it off, choosing to concentrate on adding Olympic gold to the world title they secured at Lake Placid in 2009.

"It definitely brought the sport into the public eye," said Cooke, recalling the embarrassing moment when her spandex suit ripped at a World Cup event in St Moritz.

"It was actually a prototype garment. That's why we test, so these sorts of things don't happen at the Games.

"At least we now know we can cope with anything. You can't do anything else but laugh about it and move on."

Should the British girls capture gold, it will be a remarkable achievement.

Minichiello, the driver to Cooke's brakeman, was due to undergo laser surgery on her left eye after competing in the 90mph hour sport with only "60 to 70 percent" vision in recent World Cup events.

"It was really strange," she told the Daily Telegraph. "It affected not just my vision but my colour perception, my depth perception, even my hearing because you don't realise how much of the information you take in comes from watching people's mouths."

Starved of Winter Olympic success with just eight champions in the history of the Games, Britain will also be pinning its hopes on another sliding star, skeleton competitor Shelley Rudman.

Rudman held the British end up on her own in Turin four years ago, when her silver was her country's only medal.
Winter sports successes are rare for Britain - which landed four medals (and only one gold) at the first Games in Chamonix in 1924.

But the Sheffield-based, 28-year-old Rudman showed her Turin exploits in finishing runner-up to Swiss Maya Pedersen were no fluke by promptly adding last year's European crown.

Rudman comes to Vancouver fresh from another solid season of regular podium finishes which culminated in her landing bronze at the European Championships and second spot in the World Cup after winning medals in four of eight races.

"I'm pretty pleased with the result and the amazing season so far. Overall this season has been super successful with two wins, two track records and numerous personal bests," she said.

After making her World Cup debut in 2005 Rudman became the first female skeleton competitor to win a Europa Cup and she has since gone from strength to strength, pausing only briefly in the 2007-2008 season to become a parent to baby Ella.