Early start – and finish – for Parr
Watch the alpine skiing competition, and you’ll know who the guy with no chance of winning is when you see him. Meet Hubertus von MATTHEW Parr, who trains at Dundee Ice Arena, may have the smallest workload of all the Britain’s figure skaters at the Winter Olympics but he’s determined to have a big impact off the ice.
Despite being a four-times British men’s champion, the 23-year-old’s involvement in Sochi is limited to the new-look team event. And he will make history with the men first on the ice today and Parr first to skate in a group that includes Russian sporting legend and former Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko. He will also become the first British man to compete at a Games since Steven Cousins at Nagano 1998, although he will likely make just one appearance.
Only five nations qualify for a free skate once the men’s, women’s, pairs and ice dance short programmes are completed and Parr will be competing before the Olympic flame is even lit tomorrow. But, however brief his Olympic moment, Parr insists he’s ready to be Team GB’s biggest supporter once the Games begin.
“I will be there to support the team in any way possible and just take in as much as I can because it could be a oncein-a-lifetime experience,” he said. “It could be the only time I could get to go to an Olympic Games and the only time I will go to Russia. I’m really looking forward to getting around all the sports to cheer on my team- Shiva Keshavan’s home nation has no luge track. That hasn’t stopped him from making the Olympics again and again. mates, I’m there to support Team GB in whatever way I am needed.
“I am only in the team event, which we earned by finishing in the top ten in the world. On it’s own this is a massive achievement, so big credit to everybody that helped get that place for us. I will be in Sochi until the closing ceremony. I am going out to represent Team GB and represent Britain and that’s the really exciting thing for me.
“I am going to be in and around everybody else who has been working their whole life to compete at the Olympics. The last thing I would want to be is a nuisance to the rest of the team and be a bad example of what Britain is about.
“I am absolutely there for my team-mates to do whatever I can after I have finished.”
As in Vancouver
four
years Javier Fernandez is no joke. He’s a popular pick to medal in figure skating in Sochi, and with good reason. Never mind that ago, GB did not achieve qualification for a men’s individual spot. So Parr knows just how lucky he is to be making his Olympic bow.
“We were a few places out [from qualifying a men’s spot], the same thing with Vancouver where we missed out by one place,” he added. “I am very fortunate that we have the team event. It is a new competition and it’s a really interesting experiment for figure skating and I’m a big supporter of it.” l Bobsleigh team, hoping to emulate their ‘Cool Runnings’ predecessors arrive, but without equipment