Chemmy Alcott
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Chimene "Chemmy" Mary Alcott (born July 10, 1982 in Twickenham, Middlesex, Greater London) is the current British number one alpine skier.
Named after Sophia Loren’s character in the 1961 film El Cid, she started skiing aged 18 months while on a family trip to France, and skied in her first “fun” race at the age of three [1]. She grew up and went to school in Surbiton, Surrey, completing her A-levels at Surbiton High School.[2][3] Age 12 she broke her neck in a skiing accident, recovering with two of her vertebrae fused together - she carries x-rays of this, so if she is in an accident the hospital won’t try to prise the vertebrae apart.
Alcott competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics.[4]
She was also selected as a member of the Great Britain Olympic team for the Turin Winter Olympics 2006 where she is competing in the ladies combined, downhill, giant slalom and Super-G events.
Alcott was disqualified from the 2006 Winter Olympics combined event after the first run of the Slalom, being found with a ski 0.2mm narrower than FIS regulations permit [5]. She posted a 19th place in the Super-G and a career best 11th in the Downhill at Turin.
As the British ski team is sponsored by Audi, she drives an Audi A3 Quattro - and has undertaken some selected modelling contracts, including thermal underwear for Marks and Spencer. She is also one of the faces of Citizen Watch United Kingdom Ltd.
She has been immortalised in song by the now-defunct UK indie band Three Litre in their composition "Downhill". The song featured as part of the band's "Alpine Suite" MP3 EPThe ArkadeThree Litre's myspace site. Sampling the famous BBC "Ski Sunday" theme tune the song uses Alcott's lack of success at 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to attack the UK government's lack of sports funding.
2007/2008 Season
After a slow start to the season, which saw Alcott consistently placed around 30, she has just started improving these results. She has now finished inside the top 20 on 3 occasions and her main aim is to finish in the top 3 sometime during this season. Her ultimate aim is to win an olympic medal and she will have to wait until 2010 to achieve this aim.
[edit] References
- ^ On the move: Chemmy Alcott - Times Online
- ^ Wark, Penny (2006-02-17). Going up, going down: Chemmy Alcott. The Face. Times Newspapers Ltd.. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Lyles, Christopher (2001-10-25). Skiing: Alcott has credentials to fulfil Olympic dream. Telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ Chemmy Alcott. Team GB. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ BBC SPORT Alcott disqualified for ski error
