Jason Queally bids for a London return to glory, a decade after Olympic cycling gold

LONDON - A decade after he won Olympic gold and two years after retiring from cycling, Jason Queally is back in the British team with his sights fixed on the 2012 London Games.

The 39-year-old Queally won the kilometre sprint in Sydney in 2000 but has now moved to the endurance events and has been selected for the men's team pursuit at this month's world track championships in Copenhagen.

"Even if I don't make it to London, I know I have had the opportunity to go for it," Queally said. "If I'm successful, fantastic, if not, I have given it my best shot."

Times have changed for British cycling since Queally was the only British gold medallist in the sport in 2000. British riders took seven of the 10 gold medals on the track in Beijing, and one on the road - and will be hoping to do better on home soil in 2012.

Along with Queally, Britain will have seven Beijing medallists in its team, including triple gold medallist Chris Hoy, who will be looking to regain the title of world champion in the sprint events after being forced to withdraw last year due to injury.

Eight-time world champion Victoria Pendleton will be seeking to retain her sprint title, while the women's pursuit team of Lizzie Armitstead, Wendy Houvenaghel and Joanna Rowsell will be defending their title after breaking the world record earlier this season.

"The worlds in Copenhagen will be about assessing where we are, right here, right now," said Shane Sutton, the British cycle team's performance manager. "We know what is going to be needed at the London Olympics so we need to go to the worlds and assess where we are and how far we have got to go."

The track world championships run March 24-28.