Clara a woman for all seasons

When Clara Hughes begins her remarkable quest for Commonwealth gold in cycling's time trial event tomorrow do not be surprised if she gives her feet a second glance to make sure she is wearing the right shoes. For the 29-year-old Canadian leads an extraordinary double life.

In the summer she is one of her country's top cyclists, having won bronze medals in the road race and individual time trials at the 1996 Altanta Olympics.

But once those dark winter nights draw in she puts on her skates and takes to the ice. Although speed skating had always been as important to her as her cycling, it was not until this year's Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City that her unique talent was rewarded with a bronze medal in the 5,000metres.

It is incredible to think that by tomorrow afternoon she could be back on the rostrum clutching another gong only five months after making history in Salt Lake City.

Only three others have emulated Hughes's achievement: American Eddie Eagan won gold in the boxing at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics and another in the four-man bobsleigh at Lake Placid 12 years later; Norwegian Jacob Tullin Thams won the ski jump in Chamonix in 1924 and a yachting silver in Berlin in 1936; and East German Christa Rothenburger-Luding won gold and silver in the speed skating in Calgary in 1988 and silver in the sprint cycling in Seoul seven months later.

For those of us who wince at the thought of dusting down the cricket whites or picking up a tennis racket after a hard winter hoofing a football around a muddy pitch, Hughes's dedication makes the jaw drop.

But when you speak to her it is easy to understand how she does it.

Hughes describes herself as "incredibly stubborn" and "single minded" and speaks with true affection for both her disciplines.

So which event does she prefer? "You know, people ask me that a lot and, honestly, I don't have a preference," she said.

"When I am skating and training really hard in the cold all I think about is cycling. When I am training on my bike I keep wishing I was skating. It's all relative to the pain I am suffering at that particular moment.

"Skating is beautiful because there's no machine involved. It's purely about how fast you can make your body go on ice.

"But cycling is all about the machine and how efficient you can be with it and I enjoy the tactics. I guess the truth is I love them both and that's why I do them both."

Skating was her first love, having become hooked at the age of 16 after watching Canadian speed skater, Gaetan Boucher, compete in his last Olympics in Calgary.

She recalls badgering her mum to buy her some skates and let her take it up. A year later, while training on a bike, her coach pointed out she had a natural gift for that too. So she took up cycling, concentrating on that for nearly a decade and enjoying a successful career as a professional rider with Team Saturn.

She said: "It started as me wanting to do something else in the summer time. I don't like being idle so I decided to take on both sports. I'm a pretty stubborn person and when I put my mind to it I can get things done and it has worked out pretty well and given me a lot in my life." It was only after she put her cycling career on hold after the disappointment of missing out on an Olympic medal in Sydney that she returned properly to skating.

It paid off handsomely as she picked up another bronze in Salt Lake. Now she is back on her bike and going for more medals in Manchester.

Hughes added: "It's taken a long time to get the training programme right and I've only just cracked it. When I rest now I rest completely and I basically race when I want to race and concentrate only on the major championships. That's why I am only doing the Commonwealth Games this year.

"It's strange, though. Because just five months ago I was in Salt Lake City at the Winter Olympics and now I am here. At first, I was comparing everything with Salt Lake but it suddenly dawned on me that this will be my last Commonwealth Games.

"They are very special to me and the atmosphere here is amazing. I love Manchester and the people are so funny. I haven't laughed so much in ages .

"I've got no plans to take up any other sports but I am doing the track here as well as the road so I guess I'm doing three sports because the velodrome is so different to road racing."

After her busy year you might think Hughes is planning to get back to Canada and put her feet up. You could not be more wrong.

"Yes, I am going to take a holiday after the Games with my husband," she explained. "But for some reason we've decided to go on a cycling tour in the north of Canada.

"I know it sounds crazy but we're going to be cycling for six or seven hours a day. The difference is it will be nice and slow."

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