Autumn Update
- Posted by EllieK |
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You’ve always got to keep up with where your sport is headed and I can’t help taking a look at other nations on the World Cup circuit – that’s the place where the benchmark gets raised each year .
It’s great to see Japan back on the map as a W.C. stop this coming season. Moguls skiing is huge over there with spectators turning up in their thousands at each comp. Despite all the problems after the Tsunami, the Japanese are stronger than ever, pulling corked 1080s and skiing kamikaze !. The team were looking good when I was out training in Australia over the summer, but it was really obvious that with two seasons before the Olympic qualification opens, the Russians are going for gold. They had a team of over 30 athletes all trying to impress their Olympic team coaches, that they should be the ones to wear their country’s vest in the Sochi Games in 2014. The Canadians learned a lot from the 2010 Vancouver Games and with their track record of 2 Olympic gold medals in the past 2 Games, are aiming for a third. The French, spurred on by their 2011 World Championship success, are investing heavily in their team as are the USA and Australians who have dominated the sport for the past decade. Everything hangs in the balance to develop the best programme over the Olympic cycle and bring about medal prospects.
Back in the UK, before I head out to Colorado in a few weeks, it’s time for a harsh reality check. Although I have world class Olympic coaches and a ‘supreme-team’ behind me , the recession has hit hard and I found out last week that my main sponsor who has been in place for three previous seasons, has just gone bust. The news hit me hard on several levels. It’s so sad as they have all become such close friends and I wouldn’t have got to the Vancouver Olympics without their amazing support. But then on a personal level, my journey to Sochi has to go on. It seems to be a similar story for so many of us wintersports athletes that we rely on getting the backing and support of private investors to deliver our programmes. So, in between training sessions, I have been out there meeting new people and trying to making it happen – that seems to be as important for the coming season as staying fit right now!
I was asked by a reporter last week whether it felt a bit like David taking on Goliath? ‘ It does’, I replied, ‘but you have to remember how that particular story ended!’
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