A GLORIOUS day in Bath. Clear blue skies, temperatures in the high seventies, sun-cream and shorts de rigueur. The only ice in sight is chilling the drinks and the thought of squeezing into body-warming head-to-toe Lycra would send most people running for the nearest pool.
But for one group of students, shut in a classroom with blinds drawn, the dream is of winter and sub-zero. They are offered the chance to walk out into the sun. “If you do not think that could be you, now is the time to leave the room,” a man said, looking over his shoulder at an image on the wall showing Shelley Rudman and Alex Coomber. No one moves. Rudman was the 400 metres hurdler who, recognising her limitations, switched to skeleton bobsleigh and became front-page news.
Rudman’s Olympic silver medal at the Turin Games in February was one better than the bronze won by Coomber in Salt Lake City in 2002.
The students in the class want to be next. They have been drawn to one of five talent identification days put on by the British Bob Skeleton Association (BBSKA), complete with glamorous prize.
“Four years ago, Shelley was sitting in the room where you are now,” Simon Timson, the Great Britain skeleton performance director, who is fronting the presentation, said. “She had seen Alex Coomber win bronze on television and had not given much thought to it.” It was only a suggestion by a friend, who was a competitive slider, that prompted Rudman to have a go.
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Rudman was a lucky find, but the BBSKA is leaving nothing to chance now. As well as the talent ID days, it has set up links with other sports to recruit young people who, like Rudman, feel that they have no international future where they are and are prepared to chance their arm at skeleton. The reward for the best ten chosen from the recruitment drive is the chance to train for Olympic glory.
They will spend the next three years on the best ice tracks of Europe and North America as part of a British programme that is the envy of the world, from a scientific and funding standpoint. In return, they will be expected to give total commitment. Those with mortgages or families to support need not apply. There is no pay. The thrill of travelling headfirst, face down at up to 80mph is the reward. Plus a lifestyle that costs the BBSKA £20,000 a year to fund.
“We have been working since last autumn on a new talent identification, selection and development process,” Timson said. “Before, it was simple — find people who can run fast and then try and turn them into good sliders. With more sophisticated talent ID, we can select not only fast starters but those with attributes to be good drivers as well.”
On this day in Bath, a sled is brought out only for the photographs. The tests, held indoors, were for speed, balance and co-ordination. Those who make the cut will get the chance to slide later. The 20 best men and 20 best women will be sent to talent camps for more detailed testing over the next three months, with the final ten selected in September.
Gymnastics and athletics have been especially targeted, hockey, too. “Hockey because of the bent-over running position which you need in skeleton,” Timson said. “We went to the British universities athletics championships and I stood at the end of the 100 metres and handed out cards,” Timson said. “Cards with pictures of Alex and Shelley saying, ‘Wanted: future Olympians.’ ”
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Back in the classroom, the image of Rudman and Coomber is accompanied by a question. “Could this be you in 2014? Or even in Vancouver in 2010?” Timson says that other incentives include four-star hotels and free meals, but this is not what the assembled have come for. Who needs a suntan?