Rider Profile
Name: Chemmy Alcott
Hometown: Twickenham, Greater London
Birthdate: 10 July 1982
Sponsors:
Witan Investment Trust, Citizen, Volkl, Land Rover, Audiolink, Poc, Leki, Colmar
Chemmy Alcott is the best British female skier since the days racers wore leather ski boots.
She started competing at the age of eight and, aged 12, considered breaking her neck when skiing to be only a minor setback. She placed 11th in the Turin 2006 Olympic downhill 12 years on, and last season in Sölden became the only British female skier ever to win one of the two timed runs that make up a World Cup giant slalom race.
Since placing fourth at the 2002 World Junior Championships, Chemmy has shown the potential to be one of the World’s best, yet a mixture of foot problems, injuries and underachievement, have denied her the chance to truly shine.
Ski Sunday presenter and ex-Olympic racer Graham Bell talks racing, underwear and perfect bottoms with Britain's blonde bombshell.
Graham: So Chemmy it's a big year for you.
Chemmy: Oh yes a Big Year. This is definitely the biggest year of my life. I'm competing in downhill, super-G, giant slalom and super combined at the Olympics. I'm 27 years old - the prime age - I know exactly what to do to win, I just have to go out and deliver. It puts pressure on me because I don't have any excuses any more.
What preparation are you doing in the run-up to the Olympic Games?
For me it's more about being mentally prepared. In giant slalom, for example, the final score is based on the average time of two runs. Although I've pulled out some fast runs in my career, I've not yet put two together. So I'm going to use the World Cup races early on in the season to learn to handle the pressure of having a really great first run, and being in a winning position. I don't want to leave that until the Olympics.
You broke your ankle while training in November 2008 but in January 2009 you were back racing - coming 15th in the giant slalom in Cortina. Are you still injury free?
Yes. Everyone keeps saying that I'm skiing well now and that all I need to do is stay healthy. But how do you do that when you throw yourself down a mountain for a living?
So are the super-G and giant slalom your best chances for a medal?
Downhill has also been going really well. In the past my biggest weakness has been the flats [the straight sections where there aren't any turns], but this summer in Chile working with my coach, Mark Tilston, I have finally got to grips with that.
So is the super combined - where you'll have one slalom run and then one downhill run - a good bet too?
Yes, I could have a chance because in Whistler the slalom is a very easy hill. Plus, new safety regulations mean women now have to use longer slalom skis that don't turn as quickly, and they really suit me.
How have you improved this year?
I've got a lot stronger. I'm lifting about 15kg more than last year, which is a big jump especially considering I've been weight training for about eight years now. I've got some big legs on me. The fashion on the streets right now is tight PVC leggings, and when I wear them people say, “Wow, how did you get such amazing quads and glutes?” I might as well be walking around with Great Britain Ski Team written on my bottom.
Has that ever been an issue for you?
No, I embrace what I've got. I met this girl on a plane recently who had just returned from having bum implants in Brazil. It's becoming fashionable to be voluptuous. I reckon the guys that like skinny girls just feel intimidated by athletic women.
Getting back on track, who do you think will be the one to beat this season?
Lindsey Vonn. As the overall World Cup winner for two years in a row now, she'll be a force to be reckoned with in the downhill and the combined. I don't think she's technically the best skier out there, but she has something, a spark that no one else has got.
You don't seem to be lacking in confidence either.
I have done this for so long, and had every type of season you can imagine, including seasons where I would cry at only placing 22nd. Then the next year I wouldn't even finish in the top 30. I do get down, but I have learnt to put things into perspective, particularly since I lost my mother, Eve, in 2006. It made me realise that life is bigger than skiing, you cannot let it dictate how you feel.
It was a real shock when Eve died. When was the last time you saw her?
In the Olympic finish area four years ago. A couple of nights before we had been out for dinner in Sestriere; it turned out to be the last dinner we had together as a family. So I have an amazing last image of her, but at the same time I don't want to go to Whistler and suddenly start thinking about my mother again, so I have done a lot of psychological work to avoid that.
Was she your biggest driving force when you were a kid?
Massively, but I hid behind her hugely. Everyone used to say how pushy my parents were, but it wasn't them at all. It's just not an attractive characteristic in a 12 year old, wanting to win absolutely everything.
So she would take the blame?
I would say to the other kids, my mum's so uncool she's making me go to bed early, but in fact it was me that wanted to get to bed. If I become a mother I will do exactly the same if my child has potential in anything.
Are any of your family going out to watch you in Whistler?
My brother Rufus is coming to give moral support. But Dad needs to be back in the UK to hold the fort and field all the calls when I win a medal.
That's confident talk.
Yes, but I think we really need it. British skiing needs it, particularly with all the funding issues we have faced this year.
It must have been hard having all funding withdrawn from June to August in 2009, and it now only being replaced with a limited amount.
The thing that astounded me last summer is that despite all the funding cuts, everyone on the team put in a huge effort to find the money for their programmes. If there is a positive side to the crisis, it has been that the young guys on the team have all grown-up and are hungry and fighting hard.
Has the 2012 Olympics in London stolen the limelight from winter sports?
Well, put it this way, I did two interviews last week and both of them asked me if I was competing in 2012, and where the skiing was. That is frustrating. I have had to put a lot of my own money into my programme this year, but luckily my main sponsor, Witan Investment Trust, has stuck by me. Without them I would be really struggling.
But you're talented and beautiful, a sponsor's dream, surely? I did see the underwear shots have disappeared from your website though.
I didn't do underwear shots! That was sportswear by a company that made very skimpy clothes. It's an avenue I could have gone down, doing The Sun, Nuts magazine or FHM. It's kind of trashy but perhaps someone needs to do that because it will bring skiing to a whole different area of society. I keep my looks up both for my own vanity and for sponsors. Companies sponsor you firstly because they think you're going to win, but also as an ambassador for their product and that includes how you act, how you talk and how you look. I chose to go the route of Land Rover and Citizen watches, and for the broadsheets rather than the tabloids.
So does harping on about image and sex appeal ever become tiresome?
Yes sometimes. I remember crossing the finish line really disappointed at the World Championships in Bormio, and an interviewer told me I had been voted sexiest skier of the Champs on the Eurosport website. I thought well that's just great, that really makes me feel so much better. But no, it doesn't get in the way of my performance, in fact people sometimes underestimate me because of the whole blonde thing.
Winning a medal in Whistler will not only put a stop to that, but it would provide a huge boost to British skiing. Allez la Blonde!
Daily Mail Ski & Snowboard Magazine
