By Mike Rowbottom

January 27 - Nicola Minichiello (pictured), one of Britain’s best medal hopes at the Winter Olympics which start in Vancouver on February 12, will require further laser surgery to her eye today to correct her vision following inflammation of the retina which left her virtually blind on one side while bobsled racing in Italy in November.



The 31-year-old part-time sports teacher from Sheffield, who won the world bobsleigh title with her racing partner Gillian Cooke last February, revealed at the official launch of Team GB’s adidas Winter Games kit in London that although she had undergone two bouts of surgery on her eye, she still only had "60-70 per cent" vision in it with just over a fortnight to go until the Games began.

After the problem emerged - "things got blurry in my left eye, and by the time we got to the race I'd lost 80 per cent vision" - Minichiello was diagnosed as having retinopathy, a condition which leaks fluid into the retina.

"Potentially that could have been permanent, but when I got back to the medical team in Sheffield they assured me it wasn’t," she said.

"I had two days of surgery over Christmas which got rid of about 50 per cent of the fluid, and I need surgery in the morning to get rid of the rest.

"I had about 60-70 per cent of vision for our last few races, but after this surgery I will be back to 20-20 vision.

"I have surgery scheduled for 10.00, and I’ve booked in a running session for 3.00.

"Everything is building towards the Games.

"I plan to be back on the ice within four or five days.

"Everything was fuzzy in my left eye when it happened. It was the same thing that [Manchester United and England footballer] Paul Scholes suffered with in 2005.

"It affected not just my vision but my colour perception and my depth of perception, even my hearing.

"You don’t appreciate how much you take in from watching people’s mouths when they are talking.

"It got to the stage where I was walking into walls because I wasn’t aware of where other objects were in relation to me."

Minichiello acknowledged that she had no margin for error in driving on an Olympic course that is generally recognised as the fastest and most unforgiving around.

"Yes, you do need 20-20 vision," she said.

"For an Olympic Games my eyesight isn’t good enough right now.

"But it will be by the time we get to Vancouver."

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