The little miracle girl of the velodrome: Laura Trott emulates childhood cycling heroes Bradley Wiggins and Victoria Pendleton and becomes double Olympic champion aged just 20

She is the new darling of the velodrome.
But few who watched 20-year-old Laura Trott race to gold for the second time in three days will realise how her very presence on the Olympic track is a minor miracle in itself.
The blonde 5ft 4in cyclist from Cheshunt, Hertfordshire is lucky to be alive after she was born a month prematurely suffering from a collapsed lung, leading to six weeks in intensive care.

Triumph: Double Olympic champion Laura Trott celebrates winning her second gold medal at London 2012

This led her to suffer from severe asthma as a young girl for which doctors advised her to start swimming to strengthen her body.
She was eight when she swapped swimming for cycling, becoming  European champion in 2010.
She overcame her asthma but is still often sick after races, a result of a separate acid lining problem that also dates to her childhood.

 

‘I’ve been throwing up since I was 10,’ she said. ‘As soon as I stop I can’t control it for long. The worst was at the [2010] Commonwealth Games. It was on telly, wasn’t it? Me being sick in a bucket.’
Her stunning victory in the women’s omnium yesterday in the frenzied atmosphere of the velodrome follows the gold she won in the women’s team pursuit at the weekend, alongside team-mates Joanna Roswell and Dani King.
Expressing her delight at winning two gold medals in three days, she said: ‘I know it’s pretty mad – I may as well retire. How am I ever going to top that.’

 

Laura Trott faced an uphill battle in the final omnium event, but stormed to victory, finishing three places ahead of USA's Sarah Hammer

Britain's Laura Trott looks on in disbelief after winning an unlikely gold in the women's omnium

After winning gold, Laura Trott pedalled straight to where her friends and family were seated and threw herself into the crowd for a warm embrace

‘It is just amazing, I can’t believe I have done it to be honest.’
Trott had been in second place, behind American Sarah Hammer, going into the final race of the six-discipline omnium, and faced the task of having to win the time trial and finish three places ahead of her rival.
Roared on by a wave of noise from home supporters, Trott won in spectacular style, finishing on 18 points – one better than Hammer.
Describing the last 500m of the race, she said: ‘I was nervous but confident. My legs were killing but the crowd just drove me home and I thought ‘I’m not giving up now’.

 

 

This one's mine! Laura Trott poses with her second Olympic gold medal, and right,  as a young hopeful wearing the gold Bradley Wiggins won in Athens in 2004

Yesterday her family, accountant father Adrian and teaching assistant mother Glenda, were among 6,000 spectators in the velodrome, as well as older sister Emma, 22, also a professional cyclist, who competed alongside Trott at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
In an emotional tribute to her family, Trott said: ‘I couldn’t have done it without them.

Laura Trott, left, as a young hopeful also rubbed shoulders with current Team GB teammate Victoria Pendleton, centre

'The amount of money they had to put in to take me here and there and everywhere.
'My dad had to give up his cricket, so yeah. I can’t thank everyone enough really.’
Trott also revealed she would like to retire at 28 so she can start a family.
‘I want to be a young mum,’ she said.
Eight years ago Trott met her idol Bradley Wiggins and he let her pose for a photo with his Athens Olympic gold medal around her neck.
Tonight she has two of her own.
Described by British Cycling performance director Dave Brailsford as 'a bundle of energy with a contagious enthusiasm', Trott began cycling aged eight when her mother took up the sport to lose weight.
The former Turnford School pupil has never looked back, with regular bike rides down the Lea Valley on a Saturday morning and visits to Welwyn track eventually leading to her progression through British Cycling programmes alongside her sister Emma.
After discovering she'd done enough to win gold last night, the tearful Trott pedalled over to screaming family, friends and teammates in the front row of the velodrome - before embarking on a lap of honour draped in a union flag.
Going into the final day of competition, Trott held the joint lead, buts he slipped to second behind Hammer after coming second in the individual pursuit, and third in the 10km scratch.

It meant she went into the final event, the 500m time trial, two points behind the American - needing to finish three clear places ahead of her.
It seemed an unachievable goal, but watched in the velodrome by a 6,000-strong crowd including The Princess Royal, Prince Harry, princesses Beatrice, Eugenie and NBA star Kobe Bryant, Trott raced around her two laps at blistering pace, finishing well ahead of Hammer and registering the margin she needed for victory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah Ferguson and her daughters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice look on as Team GB goes for gold in the velodrome

 LAURA TROTT - BRITISH CYCLING'S NEW GOLDEN GIRL

Laura Trott

1992: Born April 24, Harlow.
2010: August - Takes omnium gold, plus silver in points race and individual pursuit, at Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Italy.
October - Represents England at Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.
November - Claims team pursuit gold in European Championships, Pruszkow, Poland along with Katie Colclough and Wendy Houvenaghel.

2011: February 18 - Fifth as part of British youth squad 100% ME in team pursuit at Track World Cup in Manchester with Katie Colclough and Dani King as Great Britain trio Wendy Houvenaghel, Sarah Storey and Joanna Rowsell take gold.
March 24 - Gold in Track Cycling World Championships team pursuit in Apeldoorn, Holland with Wendy Houvenaghel and King.
July - Wins team pursuit at under-23 European Track Cycling Championships in Portugal with King and Colclough. Also triumphs in scratch race and individual pursuit.
October 23 - Wins team pursuit gold in European Championships in Apeldoorn alongside Rowsell and Trott. Adds omnium title.
December 1 - Wins team pursuit at Track World Cup in Cali, Colombia with Houvenaghel and Storey.

2012: February 17 - Gold in team pursuit at London Track World Cup, with Rowsell and Trott, in a world record of three minutes 18.148 seconds.
April 5 - Retains gold medal in Track Cycling World Championships team pursuit in Melbourne, Australia, with Rowsell and Trott, in a world record of 3mins 15.720secs.
June 13 - Named in British team for first Olympics.
August 4 - With team-mates King and Rowsell, claims gold in the London 2012 women's team pursuit in a world record time of three minutes 14.051 seconds.
August 7 - Wins the women's omnium for her second gold of London 2012.

 

Trott, centre, celebrates her team sprint gold medal with teammates Dani King, left, and Joanna Rowsell, right

VIDEO: Laura Trott talked to Daybreak about overcoming a collapsed lung