To the discerning sports activities fan, the names of Nice British Winter Olympic champions simply roll off the tongue.
John Curry in 1976, together with his triple salchow and toe loops. Robin Cousins’ epic lengthy programme to grab gold 4 years later in Lake Placid. Then Sarajevo in 1984, Torvill and Dean. Brilliance and Bolero.
The rationale we bear in mind them so fondly is as a result of they're so few and much between. Go seize your self a pen and paper and attempt to bear in mind all 29 GB golds from the London 2012 Olympics. Precisely. The shortage is what makes it all of the extra particular.
In addition they have one thing solely time should buy, and that’s dewy eyed nostalgia, and the ladies’s curling staff of 2002 is already on this hallowed record, as Rhona Martin despatched a nation stone loopy, skipping Britain to glory in Salt Lake Metropolis.
And who knew we had change into world-beaters at sliding down a frozen sheet of ice, head first on a souped-up baking tray?
I’m prepared to wager the names of Amy Williams and Lizzy Yarnold, and their three consecutive skeleton successes, will nonetheless be chilling the bones for many years to return.
Going again to the retroactively topped first Winter Olympics in 1924, Nice Britain have a grand whole of 11 golds, and by no means multiple at any video games.
Nonetheless, may this be the primary time we hear God Save The Queen performed twice between the opening and shutting ceremonies?
Effectively, I wouldn’t use the phrase possible however it's actually not past the realms of risk. Main the way in which is Charlotte Bankes within the snowboard cross, a sport that might seize our imaginations in the identical means BMX did final 12 months, as Beth Shriever pedalled her technique to Olympic glory in Tokyo.
It is rather related. Quick and livid, thrills and spills, with bumps, jumps and tight turns, solely on ice. That’s all I’ve acquired.
To me, the Winter Olympics is like Strictly Come Dancing. I perceive the fundamentals, however I’m largely lowered to screaming uneducated gibberish on the tv.
If Charlotte can comply with up her world crown with Olympic gold, then the place may the opposite history-making podium topper come from? Look no additional than the curling.
The staff is powerful, and high of the record are Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds within the combined doubles.
They're reigning world champions and, extra importantly, they're each Scottish, which is half the battle. In truth, it's a very tight discipline, because the spherical robin is already proving, however they've began properly sufficient.
In all probability, these are the 2 greatest probabilities to make historical past, adopted by a dreamy record that I file underneath ‘Any Given Snowday’.
Matt Weston within the skeleton, Katie Ormerod within the snowboard slopestyle and freestyle skiers Zoe Atkin and 17-year-old Kirsty Muir. On paper, in the event that they gained, a modest wager may cowl the looming rise in gasoline payments, however by no means say by no means.
Then there's Brad Corridor, who leads the 4 and two-man bobsleigh groups, presently ranked fourth and fifth respectively.
There's even a contact of ‘cool runnings’ about it, as they'd their funding stripped final 12 months. Who cares that defending double-Olympic champion and large odds-on favorite Francesco Friedrich stands in his means? Disney aren’t going to make a movie about him, are they?
Lastly, there's 35-year-old Dave Ryding, Britain’s No.1 within the slalom. Ninth on the final Olympics, however had by no means picked up a World Cup victory.
That's, till two weeks in the past, when he bobbed and weaved his technique to Nice Britain’s first ever World Cup win in Kitzbuhel.
He is a large outsider however simply think about if lightning struck twice? It will be a fairytale for the ages.
So, it’s undoubtedly a case of much less is extra, and whether or not or not Workforce GB can win multiple gold stays a giant ask, however at the least we are able to say that the champagne — on the Winter Olympics — is all the time on ice.
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