OLYMPICS: Show boater! Rowing ace Romero is on her bike for Beijing

Rebecca Romero, already  a world champion in rowing, became the first British woman selected to compete in two different summer sports at the Olympics when she was named yesterday in the cycling team.

A rowing silver medallist in Athens, she will now have two chances in Beijing to become the first Briton since 1912 - and the first woman ever - to win a medal in a second sport at a summer Games. The last was Paul Radmilovic, who won in swimming and water polo.

Romero, from Twickenham, will be part of what performance director David Brailsford described as 'the strongest and most professional cycling team from Great Britain in living memory'.

Romero's two medal chances will come in the individual pursuit, in which she won gold at this year's World Championships, and in the points race.

'Having already been to the Olympics as a rower and then retired, I never thought I'd return,' said Romero, 28. 'Not only am I going, but I'm going as a world champion!'

In the modern era, the only athlete to achieve Olympic success in two sports is an American, Tim Shaw, who won medals in swimming and water polo in 1976 and 1984. Nobody has come close to achieving it in two totally different sports.

Failing to make it as part of Britain's most successful sporting team are this year's national road champion Rob Hayles and 2000 Olympic gold medallist Jason Queally. It is the second blow for Hayles, who was selected for the World Track Championships but withdrawn after giving a high red blood cell reading.

Hayles, 35, lost out to Steve Cummings, Roger Hammond, Jonny Bellis, 19, and Ben Swift, 20, the last two among seven members of the Academy squad of future prospects selected. Queally, 38, lost out to another, 20-year-old Jason Kenny, the triple world junior sprint champion.

Brailsford said: 'The very tough selection decisions which had to be made are a testament to the strength and depth of talent within our programme.'

The performance director has set a target of five cycling medals but others believe that to be conservative. Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins, Victoria Pendleton and, in BMX, Shanaze Reade will be expecting to win gold, with Hoy and Wiggins each hoping to win medals in three different events.