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Heerenveen (RWH)  Nicola Minichiello will go down in the history of sport as the first ever woman to be appointed head coach for a bobsleigh team. The BBC reports that the 34-year-old former bobsleigh driver from England will be training athletes from the Netherlands with immediate effect.

A former heptathlete, Minichiello came to the sport of bobsleigh in 2001, crowning her career with gold in the 2009 World Championships in Lake Placid (USA). Pushed by Gillian Cooke, she was the first British female to win a bobsleigh World Championships. Since ending her active career in June 2011, Nicola Minichiello has worked as bobsleigh development coordinator for the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation FIBT (Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing), responsible for the promotion of young talent and what are termed the “smaller nations”. “Nicola Minichiello has shown absolute commitment to the development of our sport in her work for FIBT,” praised FIBT President Ivo Ferriani. “We would like to thank her most warmly, and to wish her every success in her new position as head coach for the Netherlands.”