Abby Brammell

By Neil Wilson in Vancouver

Gold rush: Amy Williams cruised to winning a magnificent gold medal in Canada

Amy Williams’ dream of winning Winter Olympic gold came true after four runs down Whistler’s death track and the protests of five rival teams about her high-tech helmet.

Her gold in skeleton bobsleigh is the first for a Briton in an individual event at the Winter Olympics since figure skater Robin Cousins in 1980 and the ninth in the Games’ 86 year history.

It is the first in a sliding event since Tony Nash and Robin Dixon won the two man bobsleigh in 1964.


Williams, 27, a former athlete from Bath, stunned her rival skeleton sliders by shattering the track record on the bob run that killed a Georgian luger a week earlier by a half second on her first run on Thursday to take an overnight lead.

Far from showing nerves under the pressure of leading, she shattered it again going first in the first run last night to extend her lead to 0.52seconds, a colossal margin in a sport decided by fractions.

Since Whistler is the world’s fastest track, both times were effectively world records. “I am really enjoying it, although I had a bit of a slow start and trouble at the 12th and 13th corners,” she said between last night’s runs.

Williams, who has never won a World Cup races in her eight year career, had led the competition by 0.30 seconds overnight unaware that in the start hut her rivals were ganging up to get her disqualified. Nobody was to tell her until after breakfast on Friday morning.


No fear: Amy Williams storms to first place down Whistler's notorious track


The United States, Canada and Germany conspired together with two other unnamed teams to file a protest to the International Bobsleigh and Tobaggan Federation (FIBT) against Williams’ space-age helmet. They claimed it had aerodynamic spoilers attached which are against the rules.

The United States led the protests, paying the $100US fee demanded by FIBT, and its assistant skeleton coach Greg Sand said angrily: 'We can run races throughout the season by a strict rulebook.

'And at the Olympic Games something blatant like this comes out in the open (and) will be overlooked.'

Williams’ helmet had been passed for use in the competition by the official pre-race check, and the US protest was dismissed by the FIBT jury chaired by Wolfgang Strauss, a German. Strauss said in a statement that the manufacturer of the helmet had confirmed that the ridges and spoilers were an integral part of the helmet, not additions.

The FIBT rule 10.12 bans additional attachments of aerodynamic elements and adhesive tape except those used to fix the visor and the google strap and dictates that the helmet must be without spoilers or ridges that stick on.


Slide rule: smiling Amy Williams gives the thumbs-up before her stunning skeleton victory


'We were always extremely confident that we had the documentation that was needed in order to prove that the helmet complied with regulations,' said Adam Parsons, the British Olympic Association’s spokesman.

'We actually had an FIBT sticker saying it complied with regulations.'

Williams came into the competition under the radar.

Everybody expected it to be a straight fight between Canada’s world number one Mellisa Hollingsworth and Britain’s world number two Shelley Rudman. Hollingsworth was fastest in five of the six official practise runs.

But neither threatened Williams after that first run when she reached a speed of 89mph, faster than the Georgian was travelling crashed fatally last week.


Flying the flag: Williams' proud parents, Ian and Jan, salute their daughter's win

Hollingsworth moved to second after three runs but Rudman lanquished in seventh.

The highlight of the winter sport career of former 400 metres runner Williams, known to her friends as Curly Wurly because of her frizzy hairstyle, was a silver medal at last year’s world championships in Lake Placid, New York.

It is not a coincidence that the track there was designed by the same German designer as Whistler. And at Whistler she was second in last year’s World Cup.

'I love this track, it’s fun, exciting,' she had said Williams admitted to being taken aback by leading overnight.

'I had not expected it' she said.

'I really wasn’t aware of how fast it was. Everyone said it was really quick but internally I knew I had made a mistake. On that second run I was just concentrating and wanting to do better.'

And better she did. Better than anybody.


source: dailymail