In case you haven’t been glued to Sochi on your TV screens today, some historic news: Team GB has its first medal. And it’s down to the ace 33-year-old snowboarder Jenny Jones.
Jenny made Olympic history by winning Britain our very first medal on snow in the history of the Winter Olympics(well, as a nation we’re better known for moaning about snow than competing on it…) by getting bronze in the women’s snowboard slopestyle.
It’s even more of an achievement considering that Jenny didn’t get into snowboarding until she was 16 when she tried it out at a dry-ski slope in Bristol. She got hooked and spent her gap year working as a chalet maid in Tignes so she could master the sport. (Bonus points for managing to not get distracted by the vin chaud and actually learning to snowboard, Jen.)
Jenny spent years perfecting her talent for the drops, jumps and tricks that make up the sport of snowslope snowboarding – winning gold medals in competitions around the world. But when the discipline was finally made an Olympic sport two years ago, a lot of people ruled Jenny out as too old.
They were wrong. Jenny prepared for her victory last night by watching an episode of* Downton Abbey*. Her mum had texted her a message simply saying, ‘love you xx’. And last night, the ‘absolutely ecstatic’ Jenny was heading out in Sochi to celebrate with her fellow snowboarders – taking a moment only to get over-excited that Simon Pegg had tweeted his congratulations.
We think Jenny’s going to have to get used to national adoration. Plus, does this mean we can all have a Winter Olympics party now? Please?
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.