Atkin proves best of British – on diet of Marmite and Ribena
Freestyle bronze is nation’s first Olympic skiing medal US-born star says she is proud to wear Union flag
If her east-coast American twang suggests Izzy Atkin, the first Briton ever to win an Olympic skiing medal, is not truly British then her father has an appropriate response: “She grew up on Ribena and Marmite.”
Born in Boston – Massachusetts, not Lincolnshire – to an English father and a Malaysian mother, Atkin has spent the entire 19 years of her life in the United States.
But when it came to choosing which country to represent in freestyle skiing, there was little doubt. In possession of dual nationality since birth, Atkin opted to join the British set-up when she was just 15 and says she has thrived in a small squad that allows her shy, reserved character to flourish.
America’s loss has been Britain’s gain and it was with a Union flag draped over her slender shoulders that she celebrated her historic moment after claiming freestyle skiing slopestyle bronze yesterday.
It took some considerable guts to do so. Sitting in the bronze-medal position with one run remaining, Atkin was then bumped down a spot by the time of her final attempt.
With a nagging urge to go all out for glory by pulling out her biggest trick, the switch 1080, she showed a maturity belying her status as the youngest competitor in Britain’s entire Olympic team to rein in her maverick desires and choose the smart option – not exactly playing it safe, but opting to lay down a run that she knew would put her firmly on the podium if she could stay on her feet.
She did just that and scored 84.60 points to return to third place before enduring a horrendous 10-minute wait to see if any of the final three skiers could steal her medal away.
They could not, and Atkin took her place as the first British athlete on an Olympic skiing podium since Alain Baxter won slalom bronze at the 2002 Games – before he had his medal taken away after failing a drugs test.
In a bizarre quirk, Sarah Hoefflin, the Swiss skier who won gold with a score of 91.20, has in fact spent more time in Britain that Atkin.
Hoefflin lived for a decade in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, and studied at university in Cardiff, but she was at pains to make it clear she could never have represented Team GB because she does not have a British passport – “I’m just not British,” she firmly rebuffed when asked.
Britain’s other slopestyle skier, Katie Summerhayes, finished a respectable seventh despite still walking with a after suffering serious ankle ligament damage in December.
As for Atkin, she insists she feels “very British” and was overjoyed with her medal.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “I’m really overwhelmed. It was very stressful. I knew I’d skied the best I could and I was just waiting for the last girls to drop. Obviously I wanted them to do well because we are all friends, but I am also really happy with third. I’m really proud of how I skied in that last run.”
Most of Atkin’s life has revolved around preparing her for this moment. Having shown considerable aptitude for skiing at a young age, her entire
family relocated to Utah when she was 14 so she could enrol in Park City’s Winter Sports High School – a school whose academic year runs solely from April to November to allow students four months on the slopes.
Watching on in Pyeongchang with his wife Winnie and daughter Zoe, Atkin’s father Michael insisted all the upheaval had been worth it.
“Your kids take you on adventures and you have got to go with that,” he said. “It’s part of being a parent. It’s something we’ve been building to for quite a while. The jumps get bigger and bigger, she spends more and more time in the air.
“We still get very nervous about that, but it’s part of the family’s life now. This is fantastic.”
As for the Atkin family’s British credentials, Michael was born in County Durham and grew up in Birmingham, where his elderly mother Betty was unable to stay up and watch her granddaughter’s moment of glory, which took place at 4am in Britain.
While not for a moment regretting the decision to move to the United States, where he met his wife while working together in Washington, the relocation has meant there are British quirks and eccentricities that his daughters will never fully grasp.
“There are some things that the kids missed out on,” he said. “My brotherin-law is involved in amateur dramatics and I was just over in the UK and he was acting in the village panto.
“My kids have never been to a panto, so I was trying to explain what it was about – a pantomime dame, who is a boy dressed as a girl, Prince Charming and audience interaction. I had to explain all of it to them.”
Atkin has plenty of time to learn about strange Christmas traditions as she plans to visit Britain more often in the future, although she will not be moving permanently across the Atlantic any time soon.
God bless America – they produced a good one.
‘It was very stressful. I knew I’d skied the best I could and I was just waiting for the last girls to drop’