About Millfield News
Millfield pupils eye history books at Winter Olympics
Three Millfield pupils will be representing Great Britain at the inaugural Youth Winter Olympics this month. Upper Sixth pupil Jazmin Sawyers will join former pupils Ollie Biddulph and James Lelliot in Innsbruck, Austria as part of the 23-strong team led by Sir Clive Woodward.
The Millfield trio comprise half of the British bobsleigh contingent, but were only introduced to the sport in September 2010, when British Bobsleigh asked the school to help them recruit for the games. The team have already travelled to Austria to train on the Ingles track outside Innsbruck on three occasions.
The Olympics present a unique opportunity for Jazmin, as they are the first games to allow athletes under 18 to compete in the bobsleigh, due to the dangers involved. Jazmin, brakeman for the GB team, is already an experienced international athlete and champion. She won gold for Great Britain in both the long jump and the 4x100 relay at the 2011 Commonwealth games, and came ninth in the Heptathlon at the IAAF World Youth Championships. The Youth Olympics, however, will be a different proposition.
"I've been told it's like the Commonwealth Games but times a hundred. It's a world away from anything else I've done" says Jazmin. "But I'm confident - with this sport you have to be. If there's any doubt in the brakeman the driver will see it. You have to be so in-sync." Her teammate in GB1, driver Mica McNeill, lives in Newcastle, but Jazmin was able to visit her over the Christmas break and the pair have been speaking every day ahead of the Games. "We talk all the time. It's all about the mental preparation, as it is in most sport."
Jazmin will have her concentration tested as she will busy reporting for Blue Peter whilst in Innsbruck, with head girl duties and a place at Oxford to study towards when she returns to Millfield. With the chance to make history a tantalising prospect however, Jazmin and the team will be fully focused on their goals. "We could become the first-ever bobsleigh medallists at these games."
The Winter Youth Olympics has been receiving great coverage in the media, for BBC coverage please follow link.
