Shanaze Reade crashed out of the BMX final at the Beijing Olympics in 2008

Shanaze Reade has been told that she has "a lot of growing up" to do if she is to win gold at the London Olympics.

Jamie Staff, who won Olympic gold in 2008, mentored Crewe-born Reade ahead of the Beijing Games, where she crashed out in the final of the BMX event.

Staff, who won the team sprint, told www.cyclingweekly.co.uk: "She's still young, immature and needs to do a lot of growing up.

"That sounds harsh, maybe, but she really needs to address some issues."

Staff continued: "In Beijing, I completely saw her failing because of the pressure.

"She's great when she's just being a BMX rider, but when the pressure is on, having been there, I wasn't surprised she completely screwed it up.

"She needs to be careful she doesn't do the same with London. She needs to learn to cope with pressure."

As well as winning the BMX world title on three occasions, 21-year-old Reade has twice been a world champion on the track alongside Victoria Pendleton in the women's team sprint.

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