 Poster: A snowHead
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Have got a chance of anything in the winter Olympics in Vancouver? I know about the skeleton bob. Is that it?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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ph, Er yes...I think we've got quite a good short track speed skater and the Captain of the women's curling is quite fit but that's about it!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Gsyfreerider, Jesus. You would think with all these Snowheads training their kids ( We are ). You would think we would do a bit better!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Think there might be some outside chances in the other bobsleigh events, ph, guess it'll take a few more years for the  kids to make an olympics
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Team GB. About as accomplished in the snow as Eric the Eel in the pool.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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ph, that's what we're going to need to produce ski champions, kids who are born in the alps and live and breathe it from day one. I do think we have some amazing talent in Slopestyle and half pipe skiing, particularly the women but we are going to have to wait till 2014 to see that and that will only be in half pipe.
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| Gsyfreerider wrote: |
| ph, Er yes...I think we've got quite a good short track speed skater and the Captain of the women's curling is quite fit but that's about it! |
What about Chemmy!! - outside chance of something definitely...and quite a fitty too...
Go Chemmy Go!!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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bertie bassett, if she gets anywhere near the podium I'll shine my hairy butt out of the window, but agree she is quite fit...
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Shelley Rudman must be among the favourites in the skeleton.
I think the womens bobsleigh team have a good chance if the driver is recovered from her recent operation.
Womens skiing is looking like the Lindsey Vonn show at the moment.
She's very fit.
So is Chemmy 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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sean rose in the mono ski has a medal chance for the paralympics...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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vman, Eric the Eel could only just stuggle 1 length up the pool doggy paddle. We have a number of men in the GB alpine team who are hovering around the top 100 in the world rankings. Chemmy is Top 30 in 3 different disciplines and does actually have an outside chance of a medal and should get in the top 10 in 1 event. We have 1 male Junior alpine skier (TJ) who is top 30 in 3 disciplines in the Junior world rankings(12th in Super g). He would actually be in the Austrian Junior team. Our Nordic ski team have a number of very good skiers well up the world ranking list.
They all operate on a shoe string budget and we are a non alpine nation so give them all a chance, don't slag them off. They are far far better than Eric the Eel! If you could do better then put your name forward to be part of the GB team. See if you even get past the selection criteria!! They give their lives up for the sport and work extremely hard, lets back them not slag them off!
The Ice teams - Curling, Skeleton, Bobsliegh all are in with a medal chance but then they have all had massive increases in their budgets from Sport UK over the past 4 years. All the snow sports, skiing, Nordic & Snowboarding have had massive cuts so even World cup athletes have to put in a lot of their own money to compete.
Just out of interest the difference between No1 and No100 in Alpine skiing world rankings is about 1% time. Again see how far you are behind our best Downhiller - I would suggest at least 20% or more?
As an example we have more men in the top 150 in Alpine skiing than we do in Tennis and I think as a nation we are also higher ranked too. Tennis gets £40M per year. Skiing gets c£500k every 4 years!!!!!
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You know it makes sense.
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Plugboy, hear hear. Whilst I have no great hopes for medals at Vancouver, I don't think we embarass ourselves at the winter games. And I will never rule out conditions conspiring to produce surprisingly good results. Add to that the mix of skiers in the startlist at the olympics is always different to the WC circuit due to the maximum 4 athletes from each country rule, so you get much less predictable results.
In a lot of these disciplines, our athletes are so inherently disadvantaged in terms of geography as well as finance, and so I have the utmost respect for them for getting as far as they do. The amount of commitment and discipline required to get even close to the top 30 in alpine skiing for example must be immense.
D
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Quote: |
As an example we have more men in the top 150 in Alpine skiing than we do in Tennis and I think as a nation we are also higher ranked too. Tennis gets £40M per year. Skiing gets c£500k every 4 years!!!!!
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That is a very telling stat... but i guess most of the £40 M comes from wimbledon profits???
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Plugboy wrote: |
| As an example we have more men in the top 150 in Alpine skiing than we do in Tennis and I think as a nation we are also higher ranked too. Tennis gets £40M per year. Skiing gets c£500k every 4 years!!!!! |
You really can't compare these things. Skiing, if we like it or not, is sport of few 100 people in 5 countries. Tennis on the other side is played all over the world by many many more people. So being 150th in skiing is same as being 150.000th in tennis. Ok numbers are not right, but you can get idea 
PS: And I was in (racing) skiing all my life, so I love skiing and I can't stand tennis, but this is reality... as I wrote, if we like it or not.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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primoz, There are over 9000 men on the current FIS world rankings list for alpine skiing from over 70 countries, so being 150th in skiing is not like being 150,000th at all! Total rubbish. Being 150th in both sports is probably pretty comparable in terms of ability actually.
Just remember we have won a Bronze medal in 2002 Salt Lake Slalom - Alain Baxter. He was ranked No11 in the world that season. At the moment we have a very young team as both Alain & Finlay have both just retired.
Ed Drake is ranked No47 in the world in Super G and will be at the Olympics. If he gets a top 20 it will be a fantastic achievement. As an ex ski racer surely you should know that? You should also know that there are more than 5 countries who have ski racers especially as you attend WC races!!
Again I say lets back our racers not slag them off and say they are no hopers!! We are easily the best non alpine nation who competes on the international FIS circuit.
As you know Chemmy has had a 9th & 11th in WC this year already. So there is no reason for her not to get a top 10 at the Olympics.
Just out of interest what level did you race at? FIS points etc? Are you British?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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vman,
In the nordic (cross country squad) we have a top 10 junior (9th and 12th in last years world junior champs and hoping for a podium this year). We have two younger athletes who are taking podiums in their age group (under 18 ) and will also be aiming for top 10 finishes at this years World Juniors. We also have a number of ladies who are only a little behind, but still taking podiums in under 18 races plus more good youngsters in the younger age groups. All this is with minimal funding. Take a look at:
http://www.bnds.org.uk/
Recent results are posted there and if you surf around the site you should find info on the athletes funding situation.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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My claim to fame is that Shelly Rudman's Dad put up the fencing in my garden - do I win a prize? 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Plugboy, I wasn't talking about British racers. To be honest, I don't really care about them. I'm not British, I don't work for you guys, and except for your last year's head coach, I don't know anyone from your team personally. This what I was saying was in general. Ok I was exaggerating a bit, but I wasn't far off. Let's face it... alpine skiing is popular in 5, maybe 10, or even 15 countries. That's it. Noone cares about skiing in rest 130-140 countries around the world. Sure they have skiers and "skiers" in other countries, like Moldova (Urs Imboden), Bulgaria (Killian Albrecht), or even Kenya with xc "skier", and Nepal with guy mentioned on this forum in past, and this is enough for country to be listed in FIS list. But it's hard to say skiing is popular, or skiing means anything in those countries... even if they are on list.
Also 9000 registered skiers, doesn't mean 9000 skiers attending WC. This is 9000 registered skiers ranging from 10 year old kids, to retired skiers. And 9000 racers on whole world is not really significant number, while London on it's own, has probably more registered football player, don't you think so?
Being 150 on world in skiing is different thing then being 150th on world in soccer or tennis. I guess you have to agree with that.
As far as my racing is concerned, I never did anything special. I was racing European cup races, placed in top 10 only few times, in my best year I was around 30-40 FIS points, and that's about it. I never saw Olympics, I never won WC race (or be even close to winning it), so I admit I didn't do anything good. But is my opinion any worse because wasn't any good?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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primoz, The 9000 on the FIS register are those that are on the points list. They are from age 15 upwards (the minimum age for FIS racing) Not 10. These all race at Internatonal races around the world, including some in Iran, Turkey, China etc. There are millons of people who ski all over the world as there are millons of people who play football. I think if you look at numbers that compete competitively on an international event then the numbers would be slightly less biased towards the overpaid prima donna sport of Football!
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vman,
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Team GB. About as accomplished in the snow as Eric the Eel in the pool.
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Do you have ANY idea how hard these people train? How hard they work, not just a few months a year but all year long, getting up at some god-forsaken hour, in ALL weather to train, the hours spent in the gym, on the running track, not to mention the money they have to fork out themselves to be able to compete?
This summer my son( GB childrens team) spent 6 hours a day, 6 days a week on fitness training, getting up a 6am in the summer holidays to train while all his mates went to the pool, or round eachothers houses he was training. As a family we have given up all our hobbies, we have no holidays, my son moved away from home to live 200km away in a state run Ski boarding school aged just 11 because he had a dream of representing his country in the Olympics.He has suffered ridicule and bullying because he wants to ski for GBR, but he carries on. We have a wealth talented young skiers, as Plugboy said, TJ is one of the serious contenders, as are Ed Drake, Douggie Crawford and Dave Ryding,and further down the ages we have Nick Moynihan and Jack Gower who did really well in the final years as Children racers, beating many of the top´álpine´kids. Vman ,I think you are in our neck of the woods ,If you want, come along to watch one of the Austrian Landescup races (only the best 5 from each region is allowed to race)my son has a start place, you can then see for yourself how accomplished we are!This isnt meant to be a rant, sorry 
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The one mainstream medal chance is Zoe Gillings in boardercross. It's a bit of a pick and mix, but she's ranked around 5/6th and has beaten all the contenders at some point. It's a much smaller pool than ski (or indeed Eric the Eel's) but it's a credible position to hold.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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DAB, that`s not a rant, simply stating fact.
good on you, your family and most of all TJ
Never give in to the bullies ,sned them my way.
a very big round of applause from me, a bystander in what seems to be a hot topic
go go tj
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DAB, Rant away! The comment annoyed me too - grrrr, grrrr.
primoz, Plugboy, gently does it. It is true that relative to world population, not many people ski - we are the privileged few. It's also true that there are skiers from many countries (Snowleopard for instance) where skiing doesn't exist at all. However I suspect that in truth there are many more tennis players in the world, We (the UK) are clearly the best of the non-alpine/mountinous nations. Chemmy is doing well this year, as is Ed Drake, but let's be reasonable and not put too much pressure on them. If Chemmy gets a top 10 and Ed gets a top 20 they'll have done brilliantly. Anything more would be a bonus.
primoz, don't put your own achievements down - I can't think of many Brits who get anywhere near that!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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easiski, I can't really say about tennis. But let's look football. Every kid anywhere on world is kicking ball. When there's Football World cup, world stops spinning. When there's skiing World cup, most of people are annoyed because part of ski place is closed, or because parking place infront of their preferred bar is occupied. That's reason why Beckham gets 10, 20, 50 or whatever his salary is millions a year, and why best skiers get maybe 5 millions in their life. Is it fair? I don't think so, especially because they all train hard, they give up a lot of things (most likely a lot more then some football player does), but that's life. Money is in popular sports, and easiest thing to measure sport is money which is spinning in sport. And in skiing (alpine, nordic, biathlon...) there's very very little money turning around. But then again, it doesn't mean skiing is any less spectacular sport because of that. For me, even after 20 years of racing, skiing is still most beautiful sport, and if I could do everything all over again, I would do it exactly same way again... without hesitation.
As far as British results go... realistically it's stupid to expect medals. If they will be top 10-20 it will be great result. Even if they won't be, it's still good. I have a lot of respect for Chemmy. She came out of nothing... no real tradition (in racing I mean, before someone jumps at me that Brits invented skiing  ), no support no nothing, and she is having great results. Yeah she's not winning WC races, but more then 90% of other on WC are not either, and 99.99% of all skiers will never even qualify for World cup. So being in top 20 is helluva great result.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You know it makes sense.
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Seems that they may not even get there due to the Federation going into administration.
That would be a bitter blow at this stage.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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elgrego, whether or not SSGB goes into administration doesn't affect their right to enter. And seeing as most of the alpine team have been mainly self-funded this year anyway due to the financial cock-up I don't think it will stop any of the selected athletes from going. Doesn't help with the prep tho 
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Poster: A snowHead
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DianaF, Are you going to spam in every thread ?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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vivski, more news of the perfect preparation here
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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From that site
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| Following urgent phone calls to a number of travel industry friends, Snowsport England managed to raise over £10,000 from Crystal Ski Holidays, Erna Low Ski Holidays, Norfolkline Ferries, TK Maxx, Peak Retreats Ski Holidays, Ski Verbier Holidays, HolidayExtras, Inghams and SnOasis. |
Good on these companies! I would be interested who else was asked and said no.
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