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|  WATCH JON AND THE GB TEAM TAKE ON THE WORLD ON HOME SOIL!
2011 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships @ The Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield on 11-13th March For futher information and to book tickets, click on link below or logo http://www.worldshorttrack2011.co.uk/ | |
| 10th February 2011.jpg) The team are now in Moscow, Russia preparing for the 5th World Cup of the season. This will be the first competition this year where all of the top teams are competing against each other, and it will stand as a bench-mark moving into the World Champs. Being a major ice hockey nation, the World Cup stadium is one of the biggest the team have ever skated in, and once the crowd are in place the atmosphere should be awesome! On Wednesday the team took an outing into Moscow City, led by a tour guide. Although snowing heavily, the trip was much enjoyed by the whole team and gave them a chance to soak up some of the rich Russian cultural history. JonEley.net would like to wish the whole team good luck this weekend in Moscow! Follow the team's progress live! 11-13 Feb 2011 Moscow World Cup 5 http://www.sportresult.com/federations/ISU/ShortTrack/?evt=11210300000006 Jon, Rich and the suport staff pictured in front of the famous Saint Basil's Cathedral in Red Square 4th February 2011 Back in Nottingham the team have been making there final push towards the World Championships in Sheffield. This has been helped by the return of Korean coach Jae Mok-Jeon. With Jae back team spirits have been high, and they have been seeing some of the best training performances of their lives. A major boost to team spirit has been the return of Jon to full time training, and what a return it has been! After such a long absence he has been training as well as ever, and hopes are high for a strong showing at the World Cups in Europe, and the World Championships. 20th January 2011 The European Championships produced some mixed results for the team. The highlight performances came from Jack Whelbourne who won a silver medal in the 500m (pictured below) and bronze in the 1000m placing him 5th overall in his first individual Europeans. Jack’s performances were very impressive and he showed great maturity for a junior. Our other main contender Elise Christie didn’t fare so well, falling in the 500m and 1000m, and receiving a penalty in the 1500m final. However with the World Champs her major focus, this will simply act as a learning curve in her preparations.  
The men’s relay walked away with a bronze medal (Pictured above). Expectations had been high for relay team who were hoping for gold, but they were still happy to get on the podium in a major championship. Jon said after the race. "It's great to be back out there racing and to come away with a medal is a real bonus" 13th January 2011 The European championships start in Heerenveen tomorrow and the team is in great shape. The first distance is the 1500m, followed by the 500m on Saturday and 1000m on Sunday. With no female relay team, it is up to the men to show how hard they have been working at home, with Richard especially excited to get on the ice - “I can’t wait to tear it up with new team mates!” After brilliant World Cup performances back in October, Elise Christie and Jack Whelbourne are looking to continue these results. Jack says - “I’m very nervous about racing in my first European championship but can’t wait”. JonEley.net wished the whole team a very successful weekend! You can follow there result live. Just click on link below http://www.sportresult.com/federations/ISU/ShortTrack/Results.aspx?evt=11210300000007 11th January 2011  Jon Returns to international competition this weekend!
This weekend the team compete in Heerenveen, Holland, in the European Championships. Over the past few weeks the team have been skating some very impressive times both individually and together as a relay, and so confidence is high leading into the competition. This weekend also marks Jon’s return to international competition. Jon has been rehabilitating a knee injury since the Olympic Games, and as such has been forced out of competition. However with Jon looking as strong as ever in training, we look forward to seeing his face back on the circuit, Good luck to Jon and the team! 5th January 2011 Hectic Christmas! Christmas has been busy for Jon and the GB team, with a busy training schedule and selection trials for major championships. After a quiet new year the team returned to the rink on 2nd Jan for internal squad trials. This proved to be one of the closest trials in recent years, with important individual places on the line. With 2 wins each Jack Whelbourne and Richard Shoebridge finished 1st and 2nd respectively overall, qualifying themselves for individual places at the European Championships. Jack’s win also qualified him to skate individually at the World Championships in March. Good job boys!! 2 days later the remaining members of the team (including Jon who was absent during the trials), returned to fight for the next 3 team spots. Paul Stanley smashed his own relay test P.B skating a full 2 seconds faster than anyone in the team’s history. This not only secured his relay position, but also the 3rd and final individual position for the Europeans. Jon Eley in his first competitive performance of the season skated an impressive P.B to put himself 2nd on the all-time list, followed closely by Anthony Douglas. Jon and Anthony will travel to Heerenveen as relay skaters. European Championship Team Men Jack Whelbourne, Richard Shoebridge, Paul Stanley, Jon Eley and Anthony Douglas. Ladies Elise Christie
Another set of relay tests will take place later in the season to decide who will join Jack to compete at the World Championships in Sheffield. 15th November GB juniors impress on debut.This Week saw 6 members of the team travel out to Bormio for the 19th Alta Valtellina Trophy. Alex Whelbourne, Ian Upcott, Josh Cheetham, Billy Simms (pictured right), Tristton Adams (pictured right) and Dannielle Khan competed over 4 days of competition. For Josh, Billy, Tris and Danni it was their international debut, a big achievement by all. Day 1 saw Alex, Ian, Josh, Billy and Tris compete in the 1500m. In the Junior B category, Billy made the A final, finishing 5th. In the Junior A category Josh finished 2nd in the B final placing him 8th, with an impressive time of 2.19.118 smashing 12 seconds off his previous time. Day 2 saw Tris win the 500m B final and finish 5th despite falling in the semi final whilst in qualifying position for the A final, topped off by a personal best in the quarter finals of 43.521, which beat his previous time by 2 seconds. It was personal bests all around for the Junior boys as Billy and Josh also broke their 500m records. In the seniors, Ian qualified for the B final, finishing up 7th and Alex made her first Bormio A final, finishing up 4th. The Junior C category started their competition with the 1000m in which Danni skated some extremely tactical races, making the A final and finishing 3rd. Day 3 and more A finals and personal bests for the team. Billy made the Junior B 1000m final setting a personal best along the way and finishing 3rd. Ian followed with more of the same in the senior men 1000m, 3rd place and an impressive personal best of 1.26.932. Josh went on to make it a clean sweep of personal bests, adding the 1000m to the previous two days records. Danni repeated the previous days' effort with a 3rd place in the 500m A final, skating 47.905 which saw her take almost 2 seconds of her previous time and miss the British Record by 0.005 seconds! Finally the Novice men got their chance to start racing with the 777m in which the two Talent ID skaters Jack Burrows and Ben MacFarlane both made the A final and finished 3rd and 4th respectively, with a personal best for Ben. Day 4 started with the Novices 500m which saw Ben break another personal best and finsh 3rd in the A final. The final session was the Super Finals, in which 6 of the 8 skaters qualified to race. Ben and Jack went in the Novice 1000m, finishing 4th and 5th respectively and another personal best for Ben. Danni went in the Junior C 1500m finishing 4th. Billy qualified for the Junior B 1500m and after being knocked over mid race finished 5th. Alex skated a personal best 3000m in the Senior Ladies finishing 4th and Ian also skating a 3000m personal best, finished 6th in the Senior Men. Overall places were as follows: Novice Men: Ben 3rd and Jack 6th Junior C Ladies: Dannielle 3rd Junior B Men: Billy 6th and Tristton 13th Junior A Men: Josh 10th Senior Ladies: Alex 5th Senior Men: Ian 7th
Billy, Tris and Josh will now get back to training for the second round of Starclass which is taking place in Hasselt, Belgium from the 26th-28th November, Good Luck to them all.
10th November Team Coach and wife of Jon, Joanna Eley joins the UK Sport Elite Coaching Apprenticeship Programme Short Track Speed Skating Coach brings Bright Future for Sport A Nottingham-based short track speed skating coach has been selected for an elite Olympic standard coaching apprenticeship – opening the door to a brighter future for the up and coming sport. Jo Eley, 28, from Beeston, has joined the UK Sport Elite Coaching Apprenticeship Programme, where, with 11 others, she will develop her coaching skills at national level. For the full news article please click on the following link: http://www.iceskating.org.uk/node/4338 1st November More great results from the team in Canada. The North American World Cups came to a close this weekend in Quebec City, the rink which saw Jon Eley pick up a bronze medal 2 years ago. With spirits high after a promising start in Montreal, and with Jack Whelbourne returning to the team, the results came flooding in. The 1500m saw Elise Christie continue her great results, winning the B-Final for the 2nd time in 2 weekends. This was followed shortly by Jack winning the B-final in impressive style after his injury. Jack and Elise both broke British records in the process, so a massive congratulations to the both of them. After his B-final in Montreal, Anthony Douglas went one better and made it all the way to the A-final, finishing in 7th place overall, a new career best.. great work Dougie!.jpg) Things only got better in the 1000m, where Elise and Jack continued their amazing form, both advancing all the way to the A-finals. Jack showed that he is going to be a real force to be reckoned with finishing in 5th place. This was made all the more impressive by the fact that his hand was cut open during a fall in the semi final, meaning he skated his first A-final with 4 stitches in his left hand.. awesome! Elise Christie (pictured on left) finally did what we have all been waiting for, and won her first World Cup medal, picking up a bronze. Elise is fast establishing herself as one of the best all-rounders in the sport, and JonEley.net looks forward to reporting on her picking up plenty more medals in the future. The team leaves with 6 B-finals, 3 A-finals, and 1 medal... some of the best results Great Britain has ever seen. This is made even more promising by the absence of British Number 1, Jon Eley, who is set to return and take the team even higher! Well done to the whole team, keep it going! 25th October 2010 Successful first World Cup for Team GB. Team GB were missing 2 of their strongest skaters this weekend in Jon Eley and Jack Whelbourne (nursing an ankle injury), but the team put out some impressive performances. Saturday saw Richard Shoebridge (Pictured on the right, behind team mate Anthony in training).jpg) skating in his first World Cup since representing Canada 2 years ago, making it all the way to the B-final in the 1000m, coming away with a 6th place overall. This was followed up in the 1500m where both Elise Christie and Anthony Douglas narrowly missed out on A-final spots, but moved forward to the B-finals. Elise proved that she is going to be a force to reckon with, winning the B-final, giving her 8th place overall. Anthony followed this up with an impressive 11th place. Sunday saw some great repecharge action, with both Elise and Richard moving all the way to the 500m finals. Richard missed out on re-entering the main event by just 1 place, finishing 3rd in the final, however Elise qualified with ease in 1st place. Elise was joined again by Anthony for the evening session. Anthony put out another strong performance, this time just missing the B-final, finishing in 15th place. Elise having come through the repecharge, went all the way to win the B-final, giving her 6th place overall. As she gains confidence from each race it looks like just a matter of time before Elise is regularly standing on the podium. The team move to Quebec City today in high spirits after some strong performances in Montreal. Importantly the team will be joined again by Jack Whelbourne, allowing them to enter a men’s relay team. And with Jon Eley making a strong recovery at home in Nottingham, they will be back at full strength very soon! 21st October 2010 Follow the GB team this weekend at the first World Cup of the Season in Montreal. Live result @ http://www.sportresult.com/federations/ISU/ShortTrack/?evt=11210300000002 19th October 2010 The GB team are now in Montreal, Canada preparing for the first world cup of the season. The team is sadly still missing Jon Eley, who continues his rehabilitation at home in Nottingham. The men’s relay team will be weakened by Jon’s absence, however with some impressive times in training from the remaining team members, the weekend still looks positive. Also fresh from her dominance of the Invitational Cup two weeks ago, Elise Christie is looking to show what she is made of on the world stage. The regular team are joined by their psychologist Mike Rotherham, who is set to experience his first taste of major international short track... and with the team looking good on the Montreal ice over the past few days, it looks like he will have a lot to shout about! 4th October 2010 The Invitational Cup proved to be a great season opener for the GB team, even in the absence of British number one, Jon Eley. The men finished in 2nd place in the team event, and went one better to top the podium in the relay competition. Individually Jack Whelbourne picked up an impressive overall silver medal, after a great 500m which saw Jack and Paul Stanley pick up gold and silver. The girls competition turned out to be the 'Elise Christie Show', as she went about winning every distance with ease. Her impressive points tally helped the girls team pick up bronze in the team event, and confirmed her position as one of the best skaters in the world.. great work Elise. The team now have just 2 weeks of training in Nottingham before heading out to Canada for the first 2 world cups of the season. After this weekend JonEley.net is looking forward to seeing this form continued on the world stage! 30th September 2010 The Great Britain team head to Heerenveen in The Netherlands this weekend for the annual invitational cup. Sadly the only member of the team who will not be present is Jon Eley, as he is staying in the UK to keep up the progression he is making with his knee injury. Jon is making steady improvements and is still well on track to be back in the team for the business end of the season! The Invitational Cup has been a useful season opener for the team for the past 3 seasons, and with more competitors than ever, this year should be no different. Having completed a lot of tough training already this season, the team are looking forward to seeing what impact this has had. The competition will also be the international debut for new team member Richard Shoebridge, so good luck to him and the whole GB team from everyone at JonEley.net. Keep up to date with all the result this weekend at: http://www.shorttrackonline.info 10th September 2010 Great news this week as Jon has been nominated for sportsman of the year in his home region; Solihull, Coventry and Warwickshire Sports Awards 2010. Voting has now opened for this award so please show your support for Jon. You can vote now at http://www2.cswsport.org.uk/awards/ 1st September 2010 Unfortunately this year Jon has been dealing with a knee injury which kept him off the ice for the start of the season. This meant he was forced to miss the trials, however he is back training on the ice with the rest of the team, and it looks like he will be back to full fitness very soon! The trials were as exciting as ever, and in the absence of Jon there were some unexpected results! The main of these was Jack Whelbourne showing how hard he has worked this season and winning every distance, well done Jack. 2nd place in every distance went to Anthony Douglas, and 3rd place overall to Richard Shoebridge in his first competition representing his new club, The Solihull Mohawks! On the ladies side, Elise Christie matched Jack’s feat of winning every distance, and she was followed by team mates Charlotte Gilmartin and Alex Whelbourne. Great Britain National Team 2010/11 Men Jon Eley, Jack Whelbourne, Anthony Douglas, Richard Shoebridge, Paul Stanley, Ian Upcott, Tristton Adams, Billy Simms, Josh Cheetham. Ladies Elise Christie, Charlotte Gilmartin, Alex Whelbourne, Danni Khan For the official results from the National Trials - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peter.worth1/results.htm With the trials over, the team now return to training, in preparation for their first international competition of the year, the Dutch Invitational Cup on 1-3rd October August 2010 After a few weeks preparation in Nottingham, and team travelled to Dresden, Germany for a 17 day training camp. This gave the new team members a chance to settle into the team, and thanks to Jae the training was as tough as the team were expecting! During the final week the Great Britain team were joined by 10 club skates aged 12-14. This group of juniors were able to observe the lifestyle of the senior skaters, and receive advice form the best coaches in the country. The camp was considered a major success, and the team returned to Nottingham to prepare for their first competition of the season, the National Team Trials. July 2010 Jon Eley and the team have now returned to training after 8 weeks recovering from a very successful Olympic season. Jon and his new wife Joanna travelled to Las Vegas and Hawaii, where they enjoyed the honeymoon of a lifetime! Jon is joined this season by a few new faces. 3 new junior boys have joined, along with Richard Shoebridge who has moved over from Canada and will join the senior team. The final addition to the Great Britain team is new technical coach Jeon Jae-mok, who joins the team after 3 years as the Korean National team coach. ‘Jae’ is widely considered one of the best coaches in the world, and so the team are very excited for the opportunity to work with him. May 7th 2010 The team can now settle back after a fantastic season and take some well earned rest. However Jon has one final ‘big event’ in his programme, that being his wedding to fiancé Joanna Williams on 8th May! JonEley.net wishes Jo and Jon a very happy wedding day, and all the best for many years of happiness together. Congratulations to the new Mr and Mrs Eley! April 19th 2010 All that was left was a small matter of the 2010 British Championships, which was as exciting as ever. Jon got off to a string start taking the 1500m and 500m titles. Ian Upcott then made a fantastic final to the season taking the 1000m title, with Anthony Douglas making a late surge to take the 3000m. This gave the overall Championship to Jon for the 4th time, Tom Iveson in 2nd, and Ian Upcott 3rd. Jon’s Mohawks club had a great competition, taking both the men’s and women’s title with Charlotte Gilmartin winning for the first time. They then capped it off by taking the relay championship in another close battle between Mohawks and Nottingham. Well done to all Mohawks from everyone at JonEley.net! The British Championships marked one final career ending, that of Paul Worth. Paul is returning to university next year, and so has decided to retire from international competition. Paul was part of the 2008 World Championship medal winning team, along with the 2010 Olympic Team. However Paul’s outstanding career highlight will remain as being the only British skater in history to win the British Championships at every single age group, an amazing achievement! Paul will still be skating and competing for his Nottingham Club, so we look forward to still seeing him around! March 29th 2010 The 2010 international season came to a conclusion in Bormio, Italy, at the World Team Championships. The fast ice conditions went down well with the team as Ian Upcott, Jack Whelbourne, Charlottle Gilmartin, and Alex Whelbourne all set great new PB’s. The Mens B-final event went down to yet another close battle with Germany in the relay. Unfortunately this time the Germans got some revenge for their Olympic defeat! The girls team faired better, finishing a creditable 6th place after entering into the event ranked 11th. The end to the season also marked the end of another amazing career, that of Sarah Lindsay. Sarah stepped onto the ice for her final 500m in Bormio with a glittering career already in her pocket. Sarah has represented Team GB at 3 Olympic Games, won European Championship silver, and been the Ladies British Champion no less then 9 times! The icing to that incredible career came as Sarah stepped off the ice having broken her own 500m British Record! What a great way to call it a day, congratulations and good luck Sarah! March 22th 2010 The World Championships in Sofia were a success for the GB team. Jon showed yet again how strong he is at the business end of the season with a 7th place in the 500m. Despite a fall, the relay equalled their 6th place position from the Olympic Games. However the highlight of the championships came in the womens 1000m with Elise Christie making it all the way to the final, where she narrowly missed a medal in 4th place. Congratulations on your first World Championship final Elise! Sofia marked the final competition for Tom Iveson who stepped off the ice into international retirement. Tom has been representing GB for the past 10 years, topping his career off with a Bronze medal at the 2008 World Championships, and 6th place in the 2010 Olympic Games. JonEley.net would like to say congratulations to Tom for a fantastic career, and wish him the best of luck for his future after skating. March 18th 2010 The competition starts tomorrow (Friday) with the 1500m. Just over a year ago Jon won the first of 2 World Cup silver medals here in Sofia, and he has settled straight back into this form throughout this weeks training. He will be looking to improve on his 6th place from Vancouver. Jon will be joined by Jack Whelbourne who has been selected for the second individual place. This is a great achievement for the 18 year old, and caps off a great year for the youngster. Keep up-to-date with the teams results all week here at www.joneley.net and live at www.sportresult.com/federations/ISU/ShortTrack/ March 8th 2010 Team GB arrived back from Vancouver tired, but happy with their Olympic campaign. They brought home two 6th place finishes with Jon in the 500m, and the 5000m relay. These results were the 3rd highest in Team GB over all the Olympic sports. Also a big well done to Elise finishing 11th in the 500m at her first Olympic Games. The team were treated to a few days rest when they got home, allowing them to adjust back to reality after the circus of Vancouver. Then it was time to put in the last hard week of training for this season in preparation for the World Championships in Bulgaria. Coach Nicky pushed the team hard, and they flew out to Bulgaria in good shape to make an impact on the World Champs. The men’s team also had some great news when a few days before leaving they received a late invite to the World Team Championships in Bormio, Italy. Then soon after that the women’s team were also invited! This is the first time GB has ever sent a full team to the World Team Championships. JonEley.net is also very happy to announce that team physiotherapist Alison Thomson gave birth to a baby girl called Evie shortly after the Olympic Games. Both mother and baby are strong and healthy, so congratulations to Ali and Ben (dad) from the whole team. Ali would usually travel out to Sofia with the team, but has been replaced by her EIS colleague Simon Spencer. Simon is fitting in well with the team and is excited to experience his first short track competition. January 28th 2010 Jon and the team head to Calgary. The Great Britain team flew to Calgary today for there final Olympic Preparations. The Short Track team will join with the rest of Team GB at the holding camp and will be training at the Calgary Olympic Oval. Jon has now started his Olympic blog follow link below: http://joneley.net/OlympicBlog.aspx January 24th 2010 Great Britain wins double bronze. The last day of the 2010 European Championships was another successful day for young Elise Christie, as she took a fantastic second place in the 3000m grand final, leaving her to take 3rd in the overall championship and becoming the first British skater to win an overall European Championship medal since her coach, Joanna Williams took Bronze in 2002. The second medal of the day was won by the men’s relay team (Jon, Tom Iveson , Jack Whelbourne, Anthony Douglas and Paul Worth) in a close fought final, where the guys finished behind Italy and Germany. 
January 23rd 2010 Eley takes second in 500m. Jon had took 1st place in every round prior to the 500m final, looking by far the fastest skater in the competition and was heavy favourite to take gold. But as we know in this sport nothing is certain. In the final Jon was knocked over when overtaking to take the lead, leaving him to pick himself up and cross the line in second place. Jon said after the race “It was a bad move by the French skater but he’s out there to win as well. However, I feel I’m skating well and can take a lot of confidence from my performance. It wasn’t about the results here, save them for next month.” There was more disappointment for the team as Sarah Lindsay was beat in the semi final right at the finish line by only thousands of a second to lose out on a place in the final. The day however did finish on a high note with the Men’s relay team making it through to Sunday’s final, and although the British Ladies relay team missed out on the final they did skate a new national record time in the semi final. January 22nd 2010 Medal winning start. The European Championships started well for Great Britain as 19 year old Elise Christie won a sliver medal in the ladies 1500m with a tremendous final few laps “I was surprised how much energy I had and how strong I felt at the end of the race. It was an amazing feeling coming over the line in second to win a medal.” Elise talking after the 1500m final. January 16th 2010 Team heads off to European Championships in fine spirits. Jon and the team fly out to Dresden, Germany on Monday where they are competing in the European Championships from the 22nd to the 24th of January. This will be their last chance to race before heading off to the Olympics in Vancouver. They will be looking to put in a performance that shows the great form they have shown in training. Ahead of travelling away, Jon said: “I’m looking forward to racing in Germany as it will be a great chance to work on the racing skills and a welcome distraction from all the Olympic hype. All the team have been skating really well in training, so everybody is feeling really positive about the Europeans.” January 13th 2010 Team GB launch new website for Olympics. The website contains some great photos, interviews and facts about Team GB for the Vancouver Olympics. Please click on the following link to view: http://vancouver2010.teamgb.com/ January 8th 2010 Jon Eley inspired by Nicky Gooch speed skating glory. Jon Eley will draw on inspiration from Olympic bronze medallist and coach Nicky Gooch as he leads a seven-strong British short track speed skating team to next month's Vancouver Games. Read more from this article by clicking on the link below: http://eurosport.yahoo.com/07012010/58/jon-eley-inspired-nicky-gooch-speed-skating-glory.html COLD SPELL GETS SKATER SET FOR VANCOUVER The current cold spell has set the tone for the Vancouver Games next month, as eis2win.co.uk discovered when it caught up with Short Track Speed Skater Tom Iveson at the announcement of the GB squad in Nottingham this week. Read more from this article by clicking on the link below: http://www.eis2win.co.uk/pages/news_coldspellgetsskatersetforvancouver.aspx
Jack Whelbourne takes Bronze at the Junior World Championships. After being selected for the 2010 GB Olympic Team yesterday, Jack made it two great days in a row by picking up a bronze medal in the 1500m at the Junior World Championships in Chinese Taipei today. This sees Jack follow in the steps of Jon Eley who was the last boy to pick up a Junior World Championship medal back in 2004. If Jack can continue with these excellent performances then Great Britain will hopefully have much to look forward to in the future. 
**Jack enjoying the podium** Elise Christie, GB’s only other representative at the Junior World Championships, narrowly missed out on a place in the girl’s final, giving her a finishing position of 8th in the 1500m. Elise has won a medal in the 500m at a previous Junior World Championships, and with the 500m coming up tomorrow, the team is hoping for another great day and we wish them luck. January 7th 2010 Jon Eley is selected for Team GB for 2010 Winter Olympics. Today the British Olympic Association announced at a Press Day the Short Track Speed Skating Team to represent Team GB at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Men’s Team Ladies Team Jon Eley Sarah Lindsay Anthony Douglas Elise Christie Paul Worth Jack Whelbourne Tom Iveson The Men’s Team has qualified a relay team for the first time in twelve years as well as two individual places in all three distances (500m, 1000m and 1500m). The Ladies Team qualified a place in the 1500m and 1000m and two places in the 500m. This will be the largest Short Track Speed Skating Team ever to compete in the Winter Olympics, showing just how well the team has been performing. **Jon Eley being presented to the media** The Team Press Launch was a great success, with a big turn out from the national press and many school-children were also there to lend the team there support. Andy Hunt, Team GB Chef de Mission said:
“My congratulations go out to all the athletes selected to represent Team GB in Vancouver. It is particularly pleasing to see that we have qualified the largest number of short track speed skating athletes since the discipline was first included in the Olympic Programme in Albertville 1992, when we also qualified seven athletes. This is testament to the strength in depth that has been developed in GB short track speed skating in recent years.
“I’m very confident that the athletes we’ve selected will strive to give their absolute best for Team GB and push themselves to the limit in the quest for Olympic success. The British Olympic Association will do absolutely everything we can to ensure these athletes – and all of the members of Team GB – can reach their full potential at the Vancouver Games.”
Double Team GB Olympian, Jon Eley said: “It’s a brilliant feeling and a great honour for me to be selected to represent Team GB. I’ve never made any secret of the fact that, in my mind, taking part in the Olympic Winter Games is the greatest challenge in our sport. I’ve remembered a lot of lessons from competing in Turin nearly four years ago and I’m looking forward to improving on the fifth place I earned out there. I’m very much looking forward to being in Vancouver - being an Olympian is an extremely special feeling.”
Sadly for the team, Jon’s best friend and team-mate Paul Stanley was unavailable for selection for the Olympics due to injury. He is wished all the best in his continued recovery. However with the team’s strength in depth they remain extremely confident of achieving their goals even with this big loss. To read more reports from today's event click on the following links: http://www.olympics.org.uk/news.aspx http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/vancouver_2010/8445640.stm . | |
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