STAFF at a school in Monmouth had a good reason to cheer on British cycling hopeful Nicole Cooke today.

The Olympian, who was due to compete in the women's time trials in Athens today, is the daughter of Monmouth Comprehensive's head of physics, Anthony Cooke.

Mr Cooke, who coaches Nicole, made headlines earlier this week when he was questioned by Greek police after allegedly spraying his daughter's name across the street - a tradition associated with the Tour De France. On the track, Nicole gained a disappointing fifth place in the women's road race at the weekend, losing out to Australian Sara Carrigan.

But her father's colleagues at Monmouth, currently preparing for A-level and GCSE results days, said they would all be rooting for Nicole in her second medal attempt.

"A lot of us watched her last time, so I am sure plenty of us will watch this one, too," said head teacher Carole Anderson.

"We were disappointed for her after the last race, so we will be backing her all the way to pull something off this time round."