Biography
Born in Wandsworth, London, Pooley grew up in Norwich, where she attended Norwich High School for Girls and the sixth form of Norwich School. She began studying for an engineering degree at Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 2001.
She started cycling at university after suffering an injury from cross-country running. At Cambridge she won her university sporting blue for cross-country running and the triathlon.
After a surprise fourth place in the national road championship in 2005, she was signed by Team Fat Birds UK.
She went on to represent Britain in the 2007 UCI world championship and finished 8th in the time trial and 9th in the road race. This earned Great Britain one of their places in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
In 2008, she rode for Team Specialized Designs for Women and won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda UCI Road World Cup in Italy. She finished 23rd in the Olympic road race on 11 August 2008, where she rode in support of Nicole Cooke's successful gold medal bid but her greatest success of the summer came in the time trial on 13 August, where she won the silver medal behind American Kristin Armstrong.
In 2009, Pooley signed to the Cervélo Test Team. Since then, she has won the 2009 British National Time Trial Championships and taken several important wins for the team, in the Coupe du Monde de Montreal, the Grand Prix Costa d'Etrusca, and the Grande Boucle Féminine, dubbed 'the women's Tour de France'.
In 2010, Pooley won the Tour de l'Aude, her first individual win in a major stage race.
In 2012, following the discontinuation of the Garmin Cervélo women's team, Pooley began riding for the Dutch team AA Drink-Leontien.nl.
Pooley lives in Hausen am Albis near Zurich in Switzerland and is studying for a PhD in geotechnical engineering at ETH Zurich, supervised by Sarah Springman, a former British triathlete who is a vice-president of the International Triathlon Union. She received an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law from the University of East Anglia in July 2012.
Read more about this topic: Emma Pooley
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