Track ban troubles GB skeleton team
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By Anna Thompson
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Shelley Rudman is playing down her chances of winning gold in the skeleton bob at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver next month.
Rudman won Britain's only medal of the 2006 Games in Turin - a silver - but believes her chances of bettering that are being hampered by a track ban row.
Hosts Canada have limited Britain's access to the Whistler Sliding Centre.
Rudman told the BBC's Ski Sunday "The reality is, it's a different track, I haven't had many that many runs there."
She added: "The Canadians have had a phenomenal amount of runs there and they are very strong at the moment."
British skeleton sliders have only had 10% of the track time the hosts Canada have been afforded, according to British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Hunt.
Rudman wins skeleton silver in 2006 (UK users only)
And the Canadians have also closed the Calgary track, which Team GB wanted to use for training just before the Games. Instead they will head to the United States and prepare at Lake Placid in New York and Salt Lake City.
The centre in Whistler, which has been built specifically for the 2010 Winter Olympics, is extremely technical and the fastest in the world.
Briton Kristan Bromley, a former world champion who will be competing in his third Winter Olympics, conceded the Canadians were not breaking any rules, although he is unhappy with the situation.
He stated: "Every track has a personality of its own and it's no different in Vancouver.
"It's an extremely technical track that really works with lots of runs and if you don't have those runs it's difficult to compete.
Meet Shelley Rudman
"The Canadians have recognised that and are playing to their strengths. They are playing within the rules but I don't exactly like it."
Despite this the skeleton sliders, who also include Amy Williams, Adam Pengilly, Adam Wood and Donna Creighton, do represent one of Britain's best chances of a medal.
Bromley added: "I think we'd be lying if we didn't say we were both going for medals but we need to make sure we turn up healthy, focused and with everything ready and just hope we are in the mix."
Canada is desperate for success in Vancouver and has spent £60m on an Own the Podium programme that sets out the ambition to top the medal table by winning at least 35 medals.
The nation has hosted two Olympics before - one summer and one winter - but have never won a gold medal.
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Hunt, the chef de mission for Team GB, was so concerned about Canada's ruthless quest for medals, he contacted the International Olympic Committee about it.
"For any home nation you always have competitive advantages, and some disadvantages, and the same will be true of us when it comes to 2012," Hunt told BBC Sport.
"We will have unprecedented access to facilities, you naturally do, as many of these facilities are your home training facilities.
"We just wanted to make sure the playing field where it should be level, is level.
"And I think for sports that are highly technical, in the case of the sliding centre which is the fastest and most technical that has ever been built, that athletes had adequate track time and fair and proportionate track time.
"I just wanted to make sure the Canadians knew we were concerned about this and raised the issues through the international federations to make sure there was fair play."
The Winter Olympics begin on 12 February, with the skeleton bob taking place on 18 and 19 February.
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