Winter Olympics: Cooke's role at the back is no picnic

• Gillian Cooke is ready to make an impact in the Olympic bobsleigh event

TO the uninformed, Edinburgh Olympic bobsleigh hopeful Gillian Cooke's job might appear easy.

Cooke provides the athletic firepower on the starting line and then sits just behind Nicola Minichiello to "enjoy" the high-speed ride down the icy track.

But races can be won and lost in the first few seconds and, if the duo do not get off to a flyer in a sport where fractions of a second often split the top ten, they can expect to fail to add to the gold medal they won at last year's world championships at Lake Placid, New York.

Despite their world champion status it has been a mixed season so far for the British pair, who have failed to record a World Cup podium place with seventh their best result.

The pair, however, are desperate to win Great Britain's first bobsleigh gold since Robin Nash and Tony Dixon's Innsbruck triumph in 1964.

But Minichiello's participation at Vancouver was even in major doubt just a few weeks ago.

Just six days before Christmas, she suffered an inflamed retina in her left eye, leaving her with 80 per cent blindness. It's the same condition which once hit Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes and, after surgery and laser treatment, she insists she is ready for the challenge of the daunting track at the Whistler Sliding Centre. And there are few more terrifying venues, a G-force inducing 1500m run that drops 500 ft from top to bottom, a sporting big dipper that would scare off even the most committed adrenaline junkie.

Cooke said: "Every track has its own character, some are fast, some are technical and some are a combination of the two and Whistler is the ultimate track – it is a real test of the driver's skill. The start is quite different to most tracks because it falls away so steeply but I think that really suits us. It is a really exciting venue for the Olympics to be staged at and I can't wait to get back on it."

Canadian officials have limited all their rivals' time on the track but given their athletes freedom to come and go as they please.

It's a decision that has been criticised by British Olympic Association officials and has frustrated Cooke and her driver.

"We've had two weeks there this year and two weeks last year but it's been virtually a second home to their athletes," added Cooke. "It's disappointing but we can't dwell on it or use it as an excuse. Anyway, we've been down that track hundreds of times in our heads and we think we'll be as finely tuned as possible when it really matters.

"Winning the world title gave us a massive amount of confidence and instead of imagining what it is like to win we now know exactly what it takes. Now we can go back, look at what we did last year. See how we prepared and look at what mental state we were in and take that forward and try and replicate that exactly at the Games."

As is appropriate for someone happy to hurtle down an icy track in what is effectively a high-tech tin can with basic brakes, Cooke is not one to stand still. While Vancouver remains her major focus, she hasn't ruled out competing for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games later this year.

The former George Watson's pupil from Colinton started her sporting career as an athlete and competed in the long jump in Melbourne four years ago.

And she is actively considering a switch back to track and field in a bid to make the plane for Delhi. "The Commonwealths are much later than normal next year, so there is plenty of time to turn around between the sports," she said. "It wouldn't be a problem going from one to the other. The difficult thing is I've got to qualify at some point. I've jumped further than the Scottish qualification standard for Delhi but I just need to do it again during the qualification period.

"Because it's in Delhi and it's expensive to send a team, they are looking for people to be consistent as well so I may have to jump it more than once." Regardless of her World Championship, Olympic and Commonwealth exploits, Cooke is already a global star – thanks to the internet phenomenon of YouTube.

More than six million people have watched her high-profile "wardrobe malfunction" at the recent World Cup event in St Moritz, when her skin-tight suit split. Cooke, however, has more serious matters to worry about now. She said: "We've all had a laugh about it but it's out of my mind now. I suppose its proof that you really never know what is going to happen in sport.

"We just carried on with the run and I think it is kind of testament to our professionalism that we still managed to get a good result.

If I had stopped when the suit ripped the race would have been forfeited and that just wasn't an option.

I had to keep calm and I think, by the time we finished, Nicola was the only person who didn't know what had happened. It was only when she realised I was not in a rush to get off the sled that she clocked on. But it was a test suit and I don't think it will happen here."

Opening event: Women's Bobsleigh heat one: Wednesday, 24 February, 1.00am (GMT)

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