Winter Olympics

[Blaze]

They looked really boot faced after the game, not one shrug of the shoulders. That said, the Jocks weren't happy with a silver medal either.
Such a contrast with the ambience between winners and losers of ski and snowboard competitions.
I understand that many of the ice hockey players from both countries are professional - hence the different attitude to losing ??

[Polly]

Yes, the GB men’s curling team were extremely disappointed - poor Bruce couldn’t put words together at first when interviewed, his disappointment was so great.

I suppose members of the GB curling team might be called semi-professional; if an individual's annual income/funding comes to more than £65,000 the amount awarded through the Athlete Performance Award is reduced to bring it down to £65,000.

[exile]

Which sounds a lot but if they have to fund international travel and expenses, 65k soon starts to be rather paltry. Anyone know?

[Blaze]

I think it must be impossible today for a top level athlete not to turn professional to pay their way. Sponsors are getting harder to find and the expenses of training and travel must be enormous. It sounds idyllic to have non-professional/amateur athletes, but that was back in the old days .... and before the winter olympics came into being !

[Wilbro]

The days of amateurism. I remember in the 1950s one GB marathon runner reported to be training in his bathroom with the shower and hot water running to replicate the conditions expected in the '56 Melbourne Olympics.

[RobertArthur]

Military aircraft involvement: Olympic team, welcome in the Netherlands.