Writing on the Cleve Chiropractic blog, chiropractor and founder of the Bristol-based clinic, Tim Button, happily reflected on the Winter Olympic success of athletes supported by the clinic’s treatment methods.
It’s a very long way from Mangotsfield to Beijing – but somehow the amazing Winter Olympic Games made it all seem a lot closer.
I’d like to say right now that I’ve never before followed a blog with another one on the same subject, but events in faraway China meant this was too big a chance to miss! Please bear with me as I tell a dramatic story of sporting glory that features two of our Cleve Chiropractic patients.
I left off the last blog with Australian Jackie Narracott and Kimberly Bos, from The Netherlands, approaching the final World Cup race of the season in St Moritz – the home of skeleton. Kimberly was holding first place in the table with Jackie in a respectable 17th.By the end of their two slides, Jackie had actually soared up the table to win gold – her first ever medal – and Kimberly weighed in with the silver, making it perfect preparation for the Beijing Games.
Understandably, the Olympics presents skeleton competitors with the toughest test of all. They face four slides in two days, a huge challenge of their mental toughness, courage and skill.
I was so excited by the prospect that I woke up early to see the result of the first session that took place in the middle of the night UK time. I found that Jackie had kept her winning form going and was in first place with Kim well placed in sixth after a tricky first slide. There was not such good news for the GB team, who have become synonymous with skeleton in recent years. They ‘blew up’ and finished way down the order citing problems with slow sleds. The irony here is that super-fast Jackie and Kim are on British-manufactured sleds made by former GB skeleton athlete Kristan Bromley, who is married to Olympic silver medallist Shelly Rudman. Kristan is Kim’s coach and is probably the best sled technician in the world – he adapts the sled to track conditions, sometimes before each slide.
In the second race, Jackie went first and enjoyed a good run but was quickly overtaken by a supreme effort from young German star Hannah Neise. However, Kim had a good run to get up to fourth place, with Jackie second.
We were left with the nerve-tingling final slide and an exciting end to a four-year dream of Olympic glory. One mistake and it would be all over – the pressure was immense.
With the athletes competing in reverse order – the highest placed going last – Kim pulled out a really fast run to snatch top spot with three of her rivals still to go. Then a big mistake from German Tina Hermann left Kim still first with just the last two women remaining, which meant a guaranteed bronze. I was jumping up and down with excitement, much to the amusement of the kids.
Jackie was next with me imploring her to make it down cleanly… the tension was unbearable as Dom Parsons, her husband and coach, my friend and GB Olympic skeleton bronze medallist, shouted her off from the top.
She took a couple of knocks on the way down… the commentator thought she had blown it… but no… she finished well to take first place – a guaranteed Olympic silver! By this time, I was jumping around and crying at the same time, with the kids wondering what the heck is going on. I had to explain that these were ‘happy tears’.
To cap an emotion-charged day, the wonderful Hannah Neise shocked the world with an astonishing gold medal winning finale. But all I could think about was that Jackie and Kim, who are also best friends and our patients, would be on an Olympic podium together.
It was such a shame that, because of Covid regulations in China, Cleve Chiropractic couldn’t go to Beijing as part of the athletes’ support team. But I was in contact with Jackie, Kim, Dom and Kristan throughout and they know how much we love them.
On a different subject entirely, I managed to get through ‘dry January’ and enjoyed my first beer again watching Bristol Bears thump Newcastle – a good day.
And I promise the next blog won’t be about skeleton.
Photo by Rowan Simpson on Unsplash
