MRS PRESIDENT SAYS…
THE MAGIC OF THE OLYMPICS
The Ski Club’s honorary President, Chemmy Alcott, looks forward to the Beijing Winter Olympics and recalls her magical moments from the Games
It seems like just yesterday that we were glued to the TV watching THE summer of sport – a incredible succession of football drama, Olympic glory, Paralympic inspiration and then the inspiring Raducanu dominance in the US Open. Never was there a better time to be a sports fan.
With the global pandemic seeming to ease, but fears of returning to normal life still rife, it was those who excelled in sport that helped us through and inspired us to lace up those running shoes and get outside.
And with just a moment to catch our breath (and change our running shoes to ski boots) we now get ready to welcome the world’s biggest snow and ice-filled event: the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which will be kicking off in February.
Having been starved of preparation events and test runs, on the pistes in particular, it will be an Olympics of so many unknowns for all of the athletes. That level playing field means that there are likely to be some surprise results; since the big names haven’t had any extra practice races or banked up any confidence-boosting wins on the tracks, the competition will be as open as it gets and there will be opportunities for all to come away with the elusive title of Olympic Champion.
‘Absolutely ecstatic’ is how Jenny Jones (far right) felt after taking bronze at the 2014 Winter Olympics
The beauty and magic of the Olympics is heightened by the fact that it is so long-awaited, being every four years. With so many injuries and enforced time off snow in sports rehab, it is pretty cool that I managed to ski in four Olympic Games myself. I suppose that despite the lengthy list, I was fortunate none of my injuries occurred right before any of the Olympics I competed in.
I spent a huge 16 years of my life training for my Olympic moments. From the age of 17, where I had my heart set on Salt Lake City in 2002, to battling through a horrendous compound tib fib break to race at my final games in Sochi 2014.
Looking at the stats, I had just a two-minute event at the Olympics to showcase my efforts and hard work. For those two minutes of ‘game time’ I put in around 8,500 hours of work! Of course, there were some short-term goals along the way, such as improving my rankings in the winter World Cup tour, and winning British national titles. But for almost every athlete, it is all about the Olympics and peaking for that one event. Leaving their mark on an event watched by millions of people, who will never fully understand the effort that goes into that one competition: the build up, the heartache, the injury. Despite competing at four Olympics, I was never able to go to an Olympic closing ceremony – and this was so bizarre to many of my fellow Team GB Olympians.
Their seasons climaxed at the Games. That was it. After competing, they could recover and just enjoy the atmosphere – soak it all up. Meanwhile, us ski racers had just five days before the next World Cup event.
Why not just take our foot off the gas? Well, if you stop scoring vital World Cup top-30 points, you slide down the world rankings and you have more ruts to contend with at race events. Though I wouldn’t have had it any other way – competing at the Olympics, regardless of having to dive straight into more competitions, were the most memorable moments of my career.
If simply competing at the Games is so incredible, then it is hard to imagine the overwhelming elation that must come with winning. ‘Absolutely ecstatic’ are the words Jenny Jones used to describe how she felt after taking bronze in Slopestyle at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
I may never know about that, but what I do know is that the whole event, build up and support from the UK snowsports fans is magical, and I am so grateful to have been part of it.