Houvenaghel narrowly missed out on a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics

Cornish-based cyclist Wendy Houvenaghel has said visiting the Olympic velodrome in London has given her extra motivation for the 2012 Games.

The 35-year-old from Northern Ireland is hoping for a gold medal in London in the women's team pursuit in 2012.

Houvenaghel told BBC Cornwall: "I'd only seen the plans in the past, so to see it up close and see the actual venue was really useful.

"It's very impressive and lets me start planning for the journey to gold."

Houvenaghel, who now lives near Bodmin, visited the Olympic Park on Tuesday as part of an event to mark exactly two years until the opening ceremony of London 2012.

The cyclist narrowly missed out on a gold medal in the individual pursuit in Beijing in 2008, where she came second behind Rebecca Romero, and is already preparing to go one better next time.

She said: "In a seven day week, I'll have one rest day and for the rest I'll be doing up to five hours a day on the bike.

"I feel very confident," she added. "I feel that the objective of gold is absolutely achievable but there's a lot of hard work that needs to go in between now and August 2012 in order to achieve that goal."

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