WINTER Hall sleighs his critics...
OLYMPICS2018
THE fallout from Great Britain’s disappointing four-man bobsleigh has already begun after pilot Bradley Hall engaged in a social media spat with former team-mate John Jackson.
Rookie Hall drove the topperforming British sled to 17th, one above two-time Olympian Lamin Deen, with both teams nearly two and a half seconds off the pace of gold medallists Germany.
That contrasted with four years ago when Jackson’s ‘meatwagon’ finished fifth, a result expected to be bumped up to bronze after Russian doping.
Jackson described the performances here as an ‘absolute disappointment’ and said he was gutted the sport ‘looks to be heading back to the abyss of unfunded sports’.
That prompted Andrew Matthews – part of Dean’s crew – to post pictures of Jackson’s two-man crash at the Vancouver 2010 Games.
And Hall also replied, writing: “I find a lot of the comments unfair considering the circumstances which you are fully aware of yet fail to mention.”
Those ‘circumstances’ refer to a turbulent six months for British bobsleigh and skeleton, with scandals ranging from bullying and sexism allegations, leadership reshuffling and funding problems.
“We made the best of a bad situation,” said Hall. “We had a bad summer. We’ve had a shoestring budget this last season and that’s why what happened with the women meant they unfortunately didn’t have the funding.”
Displays here make for grim reading for the British bobsledders and also the chiefs at UK Sport who will decide how much funding the sport will receive for the next four-year cycle to Beijing 2022.
Bobsleigh was handed £5million for this campaign and told they must finish in the top five, the same result as Sochi.
At least Billy Morgan finished his Olympics on higher spirits – celebrating his snowboarding bronze by getting trolleyed on a luggage trolley.
Morgan, who shook off a hangover to carry the British flag at yesterday’s closing ceremony, admitted that when team bosses called him in for a meeting, he thought he was in trouble after posting a blearyeyed picture on Instagram. He promised not to do anything stupid, though briefly carried the flag in his mouth – just because he could.
“I don’t remember the trolley but apparently it happened,” he said. “I was actually in bed pretty early but I went too hard, too early and peaked out – we had a great time.”
Morgan, who started snowboarding aged 14, admits there were times his mum and dad despaired. He said the medal was extra special for his dad, who suffered an aneurism this year.
He said: “My dad, grandad and brother were all in the Navy but I didn’t really get on well with academic stuff.”
Team GB were set a target of five medals at these Games – more than they had ever won – and Morgan was the man who delivered the target. ●RELIVE every moment of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games at Eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app