Rudman hails resilience and opportunism as key to Turin success

A 24-year-old Rudman shot to fame in the women's skeleton on the Italian ice 14 years ago, stopping the clock in 2m01.06s to finish behind Switzerland's Maya Pedersen-Bieri.

Rudman beat Canada's Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards to the second spot on the podium at the Games, as she scooped one of her early skeleton success before going on to win World Championship gold in St. Moritz in 2013.

Rudman endured a bumpy ride on her thrilling skeleton journey and reckons an ability to deal with setbacks and seizing every opportunity were what helped her achieve that Italian job.

"I've had quite a few major setbacks in my career - from not making the national talent squad, to being disqualified from the World Championships, to having broken bones," the 39-year-old reflected.

"You've just got to look at it and go 'I've come this far, and if I can just stick with it and work through this, then it can get me mentally tougher'.

"You need to try and remain as positive as you can even in dire situations, because generally, things do get better.

"Sometimes it can feel liken the world is crumbling down around you, but if you try and remain optimistic and put a strategy in place, you will overcome it.

"I can remember first starting skeleton and being really excited, as it was a completely new sport that I really didn't know anything about.

"I sourced an avenue to try and pursue the sport by travelling out to Norway and then Austria - the best way to sum it up was that I took every opportunity that came my way.

"I was quite savvy about the choices I made - I always thought just 'give it a go', as you never know what's going to happen."

Rudman followed up that Turin silver with one gold, three silver and a bronze medal in World Cup action before capping a memorable career with a brilliant World Championship triumph in Switzerland.

Rudman now works in consultancy and mentoring since retiring, owning her own company - SR Personal Training and Consultancy - as she bids to disseminate insight to the next generation of burgeoning sporting talent.

The former skeleton star has been there and done it all over the years, and still keeps a close eye on the prospects of Team GB stars as the countdown to the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 intensifies.

Rudman's silver was a portent to a stunning era of GB skeleton success, with Amy Williams and Lizzy Yarnold - twice - reigning supreme in Vancouver, Sochi and PyeongChang while Laura Deas finished third in South Korea two years ago.

Rudman has loved watching her skeleton successors thrive and knows she can look back proudly on what she achieved on the ice.

"I always wanted to represent my country in the Team GB colours, and I look back - and it seems very surreal - but I'm really, really proud of everything I achieved," she added.

"Everything I set, I managed to achieve, and to the point where I thought 'wow, I've achieved everything'.

"I'm really, really happy with that silver medal in Turin in 2006, and I'm just really proud to have come through a sport and do everything there is to achieve in it.

"I've set records, and I've had a really, really good time - it was brilliant and I've made some really amazing lifelong friends."

Sportsbeat 2020