Golden girl Sarah Ulmer's baby joy

Photo: Michael Bradley

Her daughter was a shock - Sarah Ulmer thought she was having a boy.

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Olympic golden girl Sarah Ulmer is now a mum.

Ulmer, 33, gave birth to a girl 10 days ago.

The Olympic 3000m cycling pursuit champion at Athens in 2004 has decided on a name but was keeping mum when the Sunday Star-Times called because she had yet to tell her family the name she and partner Brendon Cameron had decided on.

"I can't tell you before I tell my mum," Ulmer said. "That's not good form."

It is understood Ulmer was expecting to have a boy, so the couple took several days to name their daughter.

Ulmer was laughing throughout her chat with the Star-Times as she tried to settle her gently crying daughter at the same time.

"I'm absolutely hopeless at this. I'm still learning the ropes," she said.

Ulmer, back home in Cambridge, said the birth had gone well and both she and the baby were doing fine.

"Everything's great, everyone's healthy, happy and brilliant, but we're still finding our feet."

Asked to compare the experience of becoming a mum with riding her bike to superstardom and a gold medal, Ulmer said there was no contest.

"This is magic, absolutely awesome. The two experiences are not even comparable really, they are two totally different things.

"This is just very cool."

Ulmer, a double Commonwealth Games champion and the 2004 sports person of the year, is still the world record holder in her specialist event.

She retired from cycling in 2007 to concentrate on her events, clothing and cycle business SUB (Sarah Ulmer Brand).

- © Fairfax NZ News