Great Britain At The Winter Games

GREAT BRITAIN AT THE WINTER GAMES Sochi 2014 is likely to be the most successful Winter Games for Britain in decades. This snapshot guide will give you the essential information you need to follow Team GB and all the action. GREAT BRITAIN'S GREAT PROSPECTS INCREASED BUDGET UK Sport has more than doubled the funding for Team GB for 2014, taking it to £14.2 million. *2 LARGER, STRONGER SQUAD The team is one of the largest ever for Britain at the Winter Games, with realistic medal prospects in freestyle skiing, snowboarding, curling, short track skating and skeleton. ALPINE SKIING FIGURE SKELETON BIATHLON SKATING 2 athletes 6 athletes 4 athletes 2 athletes FREESTYLE SNOW BOBSLEIGH SKIING BOARDING 6 athletes 7 athletes 10 athletes CROSS-COUNTRY SHORT-TRACK CURLING SKIING SPEED SKATING 10 athletes 4 athletes 5 athletes 오 1 TOP MEDAL POTENTIAL Team GB is expected to win its biggest ever medal haul at the Winter Games. 2014 WINTER GAMES TARGET: BETWEEN 3 AND 7 MEDALS TEAM GB: ONES TO VWATCH EVE MUIRHEAD CURLING WHO? Skip for GB Women's Curling team in Vancouver 2010 Reigning Senior World Champion, won European Championship gold in 2011 WHY? WHEN? The women's curling finals are on Thursday 20th February JAMES WOODSY' WOODS FREESTYLE SKIING Sheffield-born James has been skiing since he was ten - WHO? this is his first Winter Games In 2013, James became Britain's first free style skiing World Championship medallist for 20 years WHY? The men's freestyle skiing slopestyle event takes place on Thursday 13th February WHEN? ELISE CHRISTIE SHORT-TRACK SPEED SKATING Having switched from figure skating to short-track when she was 12, Elise debuted at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games WHO? Elise is the reigning European Champion over 1,000m, and the first British woman to win a World Championship medal in short-track WHY? Elise will compete in the 1000m short-track speed skating event on Friday 21st February WHEN? SHELLEY RUDMAN SKELETON Britain's only medallist at Turin, 2006, Sochi will be Shelley's third Winter Games WHO? WHY? Shelley is reigning skeleton World Champion WHEN? Women's skeleton takes place on Friday 14th February JENNY JONES SNOWBOARDING Bristolian Jenny, a slopesty le specialist, has been competing professionally for a decade, but this will be her first Winter Games WHO? Jenny was the first British athlete ever to win gold at the X-Games and she's done it three times! WHY? WHEN? The slopestyle final will take place on Sunday 9th of February MEMORABLE MOMENTS FOR TEAM GB By Mark Roach - Sports editor and writer @PPSsports MEN'S BOBSLEIGH TEAM, 1964 (INNSBRUCK) With no medals to show for their efforts in several previous games, the Great Britain team ended their barren spell at Innsbruck. Anthony Nash and Robin Thomas Dixon won Gold in the two-man bobsleigh event. Their triumph came after a great sporting gesture from Italian competitor Eugenio Monti, who replaced a damaged bolt on their sled. JOHN CURRY, 1976 (INNSBRUCK) In a mesmerising combination of ballet and modern dance, John Curry thrilled a crowd of more than 10,000 spectators at Innsbruck's Olympia Eisstadion to win Great Britain's first ice skating Gold medal. He was later awarded an OBE. As a child, Curry wanted to become a dancer, but his father disapproved. JAYNE TORVILL AND CHRISTOPHER DEAN, 1984 (SARAJEVO) More than 24 million people tuned in on Valentine's Day to watch Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean thrill the Sarajevo games with their magical ice dance routine. In a stunning performance, and to the accompaniment of Ravel's Bolera, they became the highest scoring figure skaters of all time for a single performance. EDDIE 'THE EAGLE' EDWARDS, 1988 (CALGARY) Though he finished in last place in the 70m and 90m ski jump competitions, Eddie Edwards - better known as 'Eddie the Eagle' - won the hearts of the nation for his plucky spirit and determination. He was the first competitor to represent Great Britain in the Winter events. A lesser known fact was that he was a stunt jumping world record holder at the time. WOMEN'S CURLING TEAM, 2002 (SALT LAKE CITY) Flag-waving crowds at Heathrow airport greeted Scottish housewives Rhona Martin, Deborah Knox, Fiona MacDonald and Janice Rankin, after their curling victory in the Salt Lake City games. Having taken up the sport for fun, they beat Switzerland to claim Gold with their very last throw - the drama was witnessed by more than six million British TV viewers. AMY WILLIAMS, 2010 (VANCOUVER) A former 400m runner, Amy Williams described her first experience of hurtling headfirst downhill in the skeleton track event as exhilarating and terrifying, but discovered she had a talent for She then went on to capture the headlines in Vancouver by winning the competition, becoming Britain's first women's individual Winter Games Gold medallist for 58 years. Sources: http://www.te amgb.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/winter-olympics/24728307 http://www.rferl.org/content/sochi-statistics-olympics-spending-russia/25244191.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/winter-olympics/25417211 http://www.theguardian.com/sport/winter-olympics-2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Great_Britain_at_the_2014_Winter_Olympics http://thepositive.com/great-britain-given-boost-ahead-of-sochi-winter-olympics/ http://www.teambss.org.uk/news/latest-news/record-number-of-skiers-and-snowboarders-selected-for-team-gb-for-sochi-2014/ CRYSTAL SKI HOLIDAYS www.crystalski.co.uk http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2014/1/taking-a-trip-down-winter-olympics-memory-lane-before-sochi-games-54747/ http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2014/01/22/sochi-weird-facts/