Olympics story by Vinnie Mitchell, Sat, 18 Feb 2006 08:52:00 GMT


CESANA, Italy - Shelley Rudman won Britain's first medal at the Winter Olympics in Turin this year when she coasted to the silver in the skeleton bobsleigh. After the first run, Rudman was in the fourth place and any medal hopes looked slim, but an awesome performance in the second run took her to the second spot and clinched the silver.

Her overall timing of 2min 1.06sec was just about 1.23sec behind that of Maya Pedersen, the Swiss champion who took the gold in the event. Rudman's performance was even more special given the fact that she had to rely on funding from neighbors and supporters in her hometown of Pewsey in Wiltshire to come to Turin. That and the fact that Britain does not possess a full bobsleigh track make her effort very special indeed.

"It feels really surreal. I am really gobsmacked. I really wanted to get a bronze, so I am certainly not complaining about a silver medal. I was just perfect on the second run," the 24-year-old Rudman said afterwards. "I normally go better on the second run, so I wasn't worried by being in fourth place after the first. I hope this result has put skeleton on the map and it will make a lot more people aware of skeleton and able to fund it." She is not finished with the skeleton though.

Beau Kristan Bromley will get on the men's field later today and Rudman has her fingers crossed, "My heart is going to be split in two up there on the medals podium and also keeping an eye on the results but I will try to watch the men's race," she acknowledged. Her medal-winning effort has won her a lot of praise from Simon Clegg, the chief of British Olympic, "It is a great result for Shelley, especially considering that she's only been sliding for three years.

She went quickest in the final training run, so we knew she would be competing in the medal zone," he said. "Before the games we said one medal would be a success. We've got that in the first week and we are now expecting more great results in the second week."

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