Top moments: 10 Team GB highlights at the Winter Olympics
Despite not having a mountain range, Great Britain has enjoyed some incredible moments at the Winter Olympic Games.
Team GB athletes have enjoyed quite a few memorable Winter Olympic moments.
From Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean's legendary 'Bolero' figure skating performance in 1984 to Lizzy Yarnold's incredible second gold medal at PyeongChang 2018, there is much to celebrate and remember.
Here we countdown ten of the best moments by Great Britain at the Winter Olympic Games.
Top Team GB moments at the Winter Olympics: Torvill and Dean
The ice dancing pair of 'Torvill and Dean' won gold in Sarajevo in 1984 with an iconic performance to Ravel's Bolero. The costumes and the hair cuts are ingrained in the British national psyche.
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean are now also known for their successful television shows. But, despite their best efforts, none of their shows are likely to top the incredible 24 million people, in the UK alone, who tuned into watch their Olympic performance in 1984.
After winning the Olympic gold medal, they turned professional and were ineligible for further Olympic competition. They made an amateur comeback a decade later to enable an entry to the 1994 Games in Lillehammer where they took a bronze medal home.
Their Olympic legacy continues in their home city of Nottingham where many elite athletes, and keen amateurs, still enjoy some rink time at the National Ice Centre.
Top Team GB moments at the Winter Olympics: Eddie the Eagle
The birth name of ‘Eddie the Eagle’ is actually Michael Edwards who grew up in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. The beautiful Cotswolds town is more famous for its literary festival and cheese rolling than ski jumping.
Undeterred, the bespectacled 80s hero powered his way into the public consciousness by qualifying for the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary.
Eddie the Eagle finished last in both the 70m and the 90m events.
The unlikely story was made into a film (called Eddie the Eagle) and starred Hugh Jackman. Eddie was played by Taron Egerton.
Top Team GB moments at the Winter Olympics: Robin Cousins
Four years before Torvill and Dean, and four years after the legendary John Curry, Robin Cousins made his impact in one of the most exciting Olympic men’s figure skating competitions of all-time.
He was behind Germany’s Jan Hoffman, but a memorable long program with particularly high scoring artistic elements, led him to eventual victory.
Cousins turned professional after his Olympic win and continued to skate despite having serious injury issues in both knees.
Top Team GB moments at the Winter Olympics: Amy Williams
It was a 30-year wait after Robin Cousins for another individual gold medal for Great Britain at the Winter Olympic Games. Amy Williams’ attempts to make the Summer Games as a 400m runner were similarly unsuccessful.
But a switch to skeleton proved to be more fruitful. She missed out on her initial attempt to qualify for the 2006 Olympics in Turin. Four years later, her tenacity was rewarded.
She broke the course record at the Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics twice on her way to an Olympic gold medal. It was the first female individual gold medallist since figure skater Jeannette Altwegg in 1952.
Top Team GB moments at the Winter Olympics: Lizzy Yarnold
The golden age of British skeleton continued with Lizzy Yarnold. She grew up in Kent –one of the flattest counties in the entire country. Like Williams, she initially wanted to compete in athletics.
Yarnold took part in a scheme looking for talented athletes who could have an impact in sports they hadn’t previously considered. Two years later, she won her first official skeleton race.
An epic win at Sochi 2014 was followed by her successfully defending her Olympic title in 2018.
Now retired, the two gold medals means she remains Britain’s most successful Winter Olympian of all-time.
Top Team GB moments at the Winter Olympics: Jenny Jones
The lack of mountains in British Isles has not impeded the recent success of British snowboarders in the last two editions of the Games.
Jenny Jones became the first British person to win an Olympic medal in snowboarding by securing a bronze at Sochi 2014.
Her final run included some memorable commentary by her team-mate Aimee Fuller. Jones’ journey from working odd-jobs to Olympic medallist was complete.
"I never thought that I'd be in this position when I was a chalet maid. I was cooking breakfasts and cleaning toilets and just snowboarding every day and having fun. At the beginning it was just about snowboarding and enjoying your sport,” she said at the time according to the BBC.
"It's still sinking in the history part. Hopefully I'll be in a few pub quizzes now."
Top Team GB moments at the Winter Olympics: Billy Morgan
Four years after Jenny Jones’ bronze medal, the British team was looking quite strong considering the country’s lack of natural snow.
Katie Ormerod and Jamie Nichols both looked to be contenders for the podium. But it was Billy Morgan who put together an incredible performance in the first ever men’s Olympic Big Air competition to make sure that the British snowboard team added another Olympic medal to their collection.
Top Team GB moments at the Winter Olympics: Rhona Martin
Scotland is home to the first ever curling clubs in the world. The history of the sport in the area dates back to 1540, when, according to World Curling ‘John McQuhin, a notary in Paisley, Scotland, recorded in his protocol book a challenge between John Sclater, a monk in Paisley Abbey and Gavin Hamilton, a representative of the Abbot.’
A few centuries later, Rhona Martin and her team roared their way to Olympic victory at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. It’s fair to say that the country went curling mad at the time.
The first Winter Olympic champions since Torvill and Dean kick-started a renaissance for curling as a sport in Great Britain.
Top Team GB moments at the Winter Olympics: Eve Muirhead
Eve Muirhead has been to three Olympic Games and is now synonymous with curling in Great Britain.
A frustrating experience in 2010 was followed by a memorable bronze medal performance at Sochi 2014. But it was heartbreak in 2018 when the team lost the bronze medal match to Japan.
Muirhead is still competing and looking to qualify for a fourth Olympic Games at Beijing 2022.
Top Team GB moments at the Winter Olympics: Madge Syers
No list would be complete without the legendary figure skater Madge Syers. Her performances in 1908 Olympics were instrumental in the establishment of women’s sport.
The Winter Games were yet to be recognised as their own entity, so the figure skating competition was held in the following October.
“More events, in fact, might be open to women, whether they are permitted to compete with men or not,” a report said at the time.
Sadly Syers died aged just 35. She suffered from heart failure, brought on by acute endocarditis, in September 1917.
Despite her detractors at the time, her athletic abilities proved that female athletes were in need of further inclusion.