220: Chemmy Alcott, 4 x Winter Olympian & Ski Sunday presenter

Chemmy Alcott is probably the most well-known woman in snowsports in the UK. After a racing career that took her to four Winter Olympics, she now balances presenting Ski Sunday on the BBC, with bringing up her young family and coaching new aspiring racers.

This special episode is part of an occasional set of podcasts I’m going to be publishing this winter focussing particularly on women in the snowsports industry.

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SHOW NOTES

Chemmy’s given name is Chemine (2:45)
In Dec 2010 Chemmy suffered a double fracture of her right leg at Lake Louise (5:00)
Shortly after Chemmy learned her funding had been withdrawn by BSS (8:45)
Third Space helped Chemmy with funding (9:45)
Chemmy took part in ‘Dancing on Ice’ in 2012, finishing 5th (11:45)
BSS said Chemmy’s participation was an ‘acceptable’ risk (13:00)
Chemmy has broken over 40 bones in her career (16:00)
Injuries include a dislocated jaw, broken neck, broken back, broken ribs, groin tears, two ACLs, compound tibia/fibula fracture and a broken ankle
Chemmy learned to ski in Flaine and takes her family there now (22:00)
Her first race was when she was 3 years old (although she didn’t win!) (23:30)
Chemmy made her FIS debut at Coronet Peak in 1997 (27:30)
She won medals at the European Youth Olympics in 1999 in SuperG and GS (28:45)
In 2002 Chemmy beat Lyndsey Vonn in Junior Worlds and was 4th overall (29:00)
Chemmy took part in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics (29:45)
Chemmy competed in all five disciplines: Downhill, Super G, GS, slalom and combined
Alain Baxter ‘won’ the bronze in Slalom at Salt Lake (31:00)
Chemmy finished 11th in the Downhilll at the 2006 Turin Olympics (32:00)
At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics Chemmy finished 11th in the super-combined (37:00)
Chemmy broke her leg again in the summer of 2013 in Saas Fee (39:30)
Sochi in 2014 was Chemmy’s fourth Winter Olympics (43:00)
She finished 19th in the Downhill, which ‘felt like a gold’ (43:15)
Lady Gaga is an inspiration (44:00)
Chemmy retired in 2014 and started working on ‘Ski Sunday’ in 2015 (46:00)
Working on the 2018 Winter Olympics, Chemmy teamed up with Claire Balding (46:45)
In 2020 Chemmy joined Ed Leigh as one of the presenters of ‘Ski Sunday’ (47:15)
Listen to Iain’s in-depth interview with Chemmy while she was based in Laax (47:30)
Listen to Iain’s interview with Ed Leigh (49:00)
Why isn’t there more freestyle coverage on ‘Ski Sunday’? (51:00)
Listen to Iain’s interview with Zac Carrick-Smith (52:30)
On how women take those decisions to find time for themselves (58:00)
Listen to Chemmy explaining about her downhill POV camera runs (59:30)

Leonardo Da Vinci:

"Once you've tasted flight you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

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