The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Hay plans to keep GB small but strong for Pyeongchang
Quality not quantity is the focus for Great Britain chef de mission Mike Hay as he marks 500 days until the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics today.
Perth man Hay, who was confirmed in the role for the second consecutive Games on Friday, believes Team GB is well placed to eclipse the four-medal haul from Sochi in 2014.
But he insists that target will not necessarily translate into sending GB’s biggest winter team to South Korea with medal contention now the number one priority in the nation’s mind.
Hay said: “I don’t really see the big deal in taking the biggest team – I would rather take the team with the biggest chance of winning medals.
“We have raised the bar in terms of winter sports by our performance in Sochi which was the best in terms of medals since the first Games in Chamonix in 1924.
“We have just come back from Rio where we built on the success from London and I think there is the potential to do the same in Pyeongchang.”
Defending champion Lizzy Yarnold is expected to lead Britain’s medal hopes in the women’s skeleton as she prepares to return to the sport after a year out.
There are also high hopes in fourman bobsleigh and short-track speed-skating, as well as curling provided the men’s and women’s team emerge from a particularly tough qualification process.
“We are looking very strong in certain areas but we are obviously going to have a better idea once we have completed the winter season and got the qualification processes under way,” added Hay.
“Our winter athletes have not always been able to hold the torch as high as those in the summer for obvious reasons, but there are many reasons to be positive.”