LEISURE MANAGEMENT PEOPLE “I realised it wasn't only my medal, it
actually belonged to a lot of people” Lizzie Yarnold, Olympic gold medallist
L 8
izzie Yarnold helped team GB get its best medal haul since the 1924 Chamonix Winter Games when she won gold in the skeleton at
the Sochi Winter Olympics. Yarnold's win was particularly impressive, given the UK's limited facilities for training in the skeleton, and the fact that she only took up the sport in 2009. The UK’s only venue for training is a 140m concrete push-start facility at the University of Bath, which en ables skel- eton athletes to hone their starts. “The medals show we can per-
form even though we don’t have our own track,” said Yarnold, speaking to Leisure Management's sister publica- tion Sports Management. Yarnold initially trained as a heptath lete, and was aiming to
Lizzie Yarnold became the fourth skeleton medallist in as many Winter Games
be picked for the modern pentath- lon when she attended UK Sport's Girls4Gold selection day in 2009. She has been supported in sport from a young age right up to her medal-win- ning performance in Sochi. “It started from when I was about 13 at my local club, Tonbridge AC,” she said. “Volunteers and parents would come and coach us. Later, through the Girls4Gold scheme, lottery funding helped me to train full time.” British Skeleton gained £2.1m of Nation al Lottery and Exchequer investment from UK Sport in the four
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years leading up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Amy Williams' gold medal saw this rise to £3.4m for Sochi, making skeleton the most funded British winter sport. Gaining consec- utive gold medals at Winter Olympics will likely mean a further increase in funding for the skeleton discipline. “Before the Games it was all about
get ting the medal,” said Yarnold. “As soon as I got it I realised it wasn’t only my medal, it belonged to a lot of people. The real use and benefi t of it is that it will help peo ple so they can follow their dreams to get to the Winter Olympics and hopefully bring back some more medals.” See p36 for more on the impact of Team GB's medal haul on snow sports.
Details:
www.britishskeleton.co.uk ISSUE 2 2014 © cybertrek 2013
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