Divers can rescue Brit bid

Success in Sydney four years ago has put enormous pressure on Britian's sailors and they are responding with impressive results. Shirley Robertson, Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb lead the Yngling competition with Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield topping the 470 racing. Ben Ainslie bounced back from his disqualification to win yesterday and is eighth in the Finn class.

World Cup winner Cooke was supremely confident going into the women's road race around the centre of Athens yesterday and only a mistake 2km from the finish of the race cost her a bronze medal. The gold was claimed by Australia's Sara Carrigan ahead of silvermedalist Judith Arndt of Germany.

The Welsh cyclist must attempt to erase the bitter disappointment of failure and motivate herself for a crack at the individual time-trial that she openly admits is very much a fall-back event.

Having attended Brynteg comprehensive and been made aware of the glory former pupils Lyn Davies and Robert Howley had brought to that Bridgend school, Cooke knew a defining moment in her life had passed by yesterday.

Davies won gold in Tokyo in 1964 while Howley captained Wales before helping London Wasps to a European Cup and English league double last season and now Cooke must wait until Beijing in 2008 to add her name to that roll of honour.

Cooke's attempts to close the gap on the two leaders floundered because her fellow cyclists didn't want to work as a unit. She explained: "Half of them were working and the other half just sat in and didn't want to, which really affected the dynamics of the chase. Going into the barrier on the final lap did affect me, but by then I knew we were only riding for bronze."

The cyclist had been aware of her father's arrest the previous day for spray-painting her name three times at various points on the road race course. He was released after providing evidence that he was a doting father rather than a graffiti terrorist. "The Greek police who stopped him can't be cycling fans because the entire road is covered with messages during the world championships," explained Cooke.

Cooke is just 21 and can look forward to other Olympic chances, which is something Henman cannot count on. Henman is eight years older, considerably richer and won a doubles silver medal in Atlanta in 1996. The fact that he exited at the first round for the second successive Olympics was "a big disappointment" and made a mockery of his ranking.

For Henman's fans it was another of those dreadful days at the office they hoped had been consigned to the past under new coach Paul Annacone. The American wasn't in Athens where Jiri Novak easily dismissed his charge 6-3, 6-3 in a sparsely-filled centre court crowd that included Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary.

Henman will spend today deciding what to do next. He wants to take in his final Games but knows the current slump in form needs to be addressed before the US Open starts in New York in two weeks. "I didn't play at my best and I am not sure about staying at the Olympics," explained Henman.

"I have not played my best in the last couple of weeks and New York is just around the corner. I need more matches and to be more aggressive and I know I can turn things around."

Henman is keen to watch " anything with a Brit in it" which rules out the tennis, but makes synchronised 3m diving an appealing diversion today.