The beauty and brutality of the Winter Olympic Games, with Chemmy Alcott

0:06Chemmy Alcott: The 2026 Winter Olympic Games has been historic for Team GB. We've scored medals in snowboarding, skiing, skeleton and curling. So what exactly is in the mountain air this year? Hi, and welcome back to the Standard Podcast. I'm Tamara Kormornick. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. Coming up, the beauty and brutality of the Winter Olympic Games with Shemi Alcott.

0:41Chemmy Alcott: The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games has provided us all with two weeks of jaw-dropping moments of awesome victories, near-miss medal attempts and career-ending accidents. And there's been no shortage of salacious headlines. To discuss the highlights from this year's Games, I'm joined by British ski champion Shemi Alcott, who you will no doubt recognise from her brilliant BBC coverage of the Games. She's a seven-time British national champion, eight-time British ladies champion, and has competed in four Winter Olympic Games herself. Without further ado, here's Shemi.

1:19Chemmy Alcott: hi shemi thanks so much for joining me on the standard podcast all the way from cortina i can tell you're really in the vibe for for listeners uh shemi's wearing a turtleneck that says snow on

1:30Tamara Kormornick: it which is very appropriate i'm actually here in the middle of a snow globe since we started filming this morning there has been 43 centimeters of snow today it is absolute carnage out there Great news if you're really into off-piste, but for filming purposes, maybe not so great.

1:49Chemmy Alcott: And obviously we've had news of some really terrifying avalanches. I mean, this Winter Olympics has been a lot of drama.

1:58Tamara Kormornick: A huge amount of stories. I mean, so often we just talk about the gold medals, don't we? But we've had so much narrative around what athletes are going through, about judges' decisions. There has been so much around it. And I think the other reason that Britain's really captivated is because we're in live mode. We're not having to stay up all night like we have the last two at Winter Olympics and watch at night time and then tell the stories. These are unfolding in front of our eyes. So we are so part of this. And I think that means that we're more invested. And it's just been I mean, obviously, the success has been incredible with the three gold medals so far as well.

2:36Tamara Kormornick: but it's uh I mean it's great to be part of it and to be part of that mouthpiece where you are trying to tell everyone exactly what's going on because there is so much

2:46Chemmy Alcott: and uh I'm delighted to be speaking to you so I've really been enjoying your winter olympics coverage so far on the BBC um and speaking of some of these uh the biggest stories I happen to be watching the women's downhill race uh during one of the most anticipated moments of the Games, which was US ski legend, Lindsey Vonn attempting to defend her top spot on the podium. Everyone was gearing up for her go. And as we all know now, you know, she suffered a terrible crash and had to be airlifted. I was watching this live, you know, your reaction, like a lot of the crowd, you were extremely shocked and, you know, the emotions were running high.

3:25Chemmy Alcott: As a former competitor, you've skied the Super G race at Cortina. And so what was running through your head in that moment?

3:34Tamara Kormornick: I mean I've been friends with Lindsay since we were 16 and we raced world juniors together it's probably the only time I ever beat her I was above her on the podium that day and ever since then she has just been an icon for our sport destroying her competition including me making history and then you know retiring as as the legend that we all looked up to that helped progress women's alpine racing and then coming back five years later and I genuinely in that finish area I had two scenarios in my head Lindsay Von was going to come down and win this Olympic downhill or Lindsay Von was going to come down and not be fast but she'll be smiling because she was there not once did I consider that she would end up her on the side of the piece I've been in finish areas for four Olympic games myself, three as a broadcaster.

4:25Tamara Kormornick: And I have never felt energy like that. It literally was silenced. People did not know how to take this. It was, there was pain in that quietness, that stillness. And then there was this weird clapping that started every time the camera went on Lindsay, people were clapping that they were trying to elevate the energy back to normal and eventually the the organizers just blasted music into the finish because it was such a strange environment you know this almost tragedy and I know that sounds really dramatic but that's how it felt and um first of all I was quite embarrassed that I was upset on tv because it was live because I think when I saw Lindsay crash it went back to me and my crashes and I you know I I harbor some some dark thoughts there and but that's that fine line with broadcasting when you're an ex-athlete and you're a friend, but you've also got to be a pundit and professional.

5:19Chemmy Alcott: I was doing some reading and I read that your first accident happened when you were 11, when you broke your neck. Yeah, so I mean, we bond together in this sport because we are prepared to take risks.

5:33Tamara Kormornick: We are prepared to put our body on the line for glory. And that started for me when I was 11 and I pushed my limit in a race. It was a fun race. And yeah, I broke my neck. My neck's now fused together. and then I've had many other injuries that are on the way so we know it's part of your life in fact I'm actually proud of some of my injuries because they showed that I was committing to taking that risk and being the best that I could be instead of choosing to underperform because I was scared of failure.

6:00Chemmy Alcott: Do you think winter Olympians are just that little bit harder?

6:04Tamara Kormornick: I mean harder I think mentally we have to be prepared to go somewhere that not many people can go you know whether people say we've got screws loose um I think you've got to find your limit and the limit in sports like skiing when you're going 80 miles an hour can be absolutely disastrous but we know that but equally the rush and the highs you get are as addictive so uh Shemi let's move on to team GP

6:32Chemmy Alcott: it's been a historic year for British winter athletes at the games we had super sunday uh Who did you have your hopes pinned on going into the Games?

6:42Tamara Kormornick: I was really excited for the snow community of women to come to these Olympics and deliver. And it's something that I was quite vocal on because I think it would be great to get more young girls inspired in a sport that is full send and full risk. We really did pin lots of hopes on Charlotte Banks, Zoe Atkin, Kirstie Muir and Mia Brooks. and you know starting off with that Monday where over the course of 24 hours we had three fourth places from Mia, Kirstie and then the curlers but I really felt for Kirstie and Mia who absolutely pushed themselves to their limit I mean Mia tried to do a trick that she's never ever done before in the big air and she almost landed it that wouldn't have just been gold that would have been history making and I love that she did that I love that she didn't play it safe I think that is such a amazing message to send I think Charlotte Banks and Hugh oh that was just such an amazing moment I loved that um and then you know Matt Weston and Tabs I actually met them last night they are so down to earth they're like we're not really sure what's going to happen with our careers in life I'm like well listen it's going stratospheric whatever it is smile enjoy it say yes to everything um and just so so happy for them I also got to go to Milan and see Lila and Lewis and, you know, feel that heartache, the other side of the sport, you know, you see the smiles and the victories and then you see people who, I mean, for them to have made that tiny mistake at the beginning and have to look at each other.

8:19Chemmy Alcott: Oh yeah, Lila's wobble, it was so, so painful to watch.

8:24Tamara Kormornick: Oh, and I said, I said to Lewis, like you could see that they looked at each other and they knew it was over and yet they still had two and a half minutes to skate and he said it took them a minute to start enjoying where they're at again because that is so brutal it's not over it's not completely over you can't just skate to the side of the rink and be like right I'm bowing out you've got to keep performing and so I mean we've had all of this like highs and it's literally a yo-yo for your emotions there is such a fine line in Olympic sport between beauty and brutality and you're just swinging you're just adapting okay how am I feeling how can I get out of this how can I be more realistic how can I be hopeful where am I

9:03Chemmy Alcott: coming well placing is uh obviously extremely difficult as we're seeing defending a top spot is also no mean feat I don't know if you've seen the clip of uh Eileen Gu the um American freestyle skier she was asked by a reporter whether she saw her two silvers as two silvers gained or two golds lost because she previously won gold and her response has gone viral and she said you know I'm the most decorated female free skier in history.

9:37Tamara Kormornick: These global athletes have so much exposure and with that exposure they become commercial properties themselves they become huge brands and with that comes massive expectation and then you know you deliver your very best you do things that people have never wondered for you can't control other people they other people do better and then it's deemed as a failure absolutely ridiculous um and so i you know i i love that answer and also she's trying to do things very different disciplines no one's trying to do all three like she is so it's yeah i mean there's always judgment i mean that's very different from when i raced in the olympics so 2002 way before social media i didn't have to think about my brand.

10:22Tamara Kormornick: I just had to deliver raw performance. That's what it was all about. We didn't have any of this. And so it was just a much more internal focus. Whereas now, I mean, athletes have to capitalize on this brand. They have this really small, finite opportunity to make a living. But with that brand, you're opening yourself up. You're sharing every thought. And with that, people think that they know you. They think they have a say. So they think that when you don't win, they can sometimes attack you behind the keyboard. I mean, I still have it now as a presenter on TV. And you just have to be bigger than that.

11:00Tamara Kormornick: You just have to use your brand and social media to help you be your best and ignore that 1 % of people who are negative to you.

11:11Chemmy Alcott: We'll take a quick break here. Coming up, Shemi and I chat about Britain's latest obsession with skeleton racing, village dramas, and where to train like a winter athlete if you live around London.

11:32Chemmy Alcott: Welcome back. Let's head to my chat with Shemi. I want to chat about another sport that has really captured the attention of Brits, which is the skeleton event. yeah obviously we've had some gold wins but um apparently according to the british bobsleigh and skeleton federation three and a half thousand people signed up to audition for their skeleton talent id program over the past week or so do you think it's just the gold or just you know brits being involved why do you think skeleton has gone mad um i think it's a combination of

12:11Tamara Kormornick: the success but I think it's the people behind the success like Matt is humble he's fun he's real Tabs as well she is kind of that girl next door who's dared to dream we can see ourselves in them you know they aren't these like crazy iconic superstars who we knew before this we have got to know them really quickly through their immense performance but almost also through their characters I mean what what's better than throwing yourself down a roller coaster with your chin an inch from the ground. I was lucky enough to do the Cresta run a few years ago. And that's open for one day a year for women.

12:48Tamara Kormornick: And that is a natural ice skeleton. And it was incredibly exhilarating. I mean, super dangerous. All these sports are dangerous. But I think we've got the legacy in the UK with incredible, I mean, Lizzie Arnold, who won back-to-back goals in skeleton. we've got the push track and bath why not I mean how great to be able to capitalize on this inspiration at an elite level and get more grassroot people in that's what the Olympic needs to be about the worry for the Olympics always especially winters is that people watch it on the tv and they see it happening in a far away snowy place well what the skeleton athletes did is they bought that into the living room they bought that home they bought that back to bath and so everyone's like I could do this and that's amazing.

13:34Chemmy Alcott: So Shemi you're a southwest Londoner so say you live around London which winter sports can you try out near the city?

13:44Tamara Kormornick: Right well I coach at a dry slope called the Oakwood used to be Sandown Park it's an eight second long dry slope and I think if you love to ski or if you want to have a go or try before you go away and spend a lot of money on a holiday that's fantastic there's also Hemel Hempstead which is a snow dome north London and for skiing and snowboard they do amazing park nights where they build rails and jumps they have a DJ there so if you want to go down and get into that kind of atmosphere with the baggy clothes and feel all cool you can go and do that um actually near me in Kingston upon Thames this is really new it's just opened up it's called Urban Fun and I have only been home two days since November and I have done five sessions of curling there because it's this like interactive amusement where there's darts and crazy golf but they've also got curling and they've got the camera that goes down like in the Olympics so it's so satisfying because you're like watching you take everyone out I mean I definitely I don't know what it's called when you are a non-professional very amateur curler so in skiing we've got ski races at the Olympics, but we are all skiing.

14:53Tamara Kormornick: In curling, I do not curl those stones. I do not have any talent at all, but it's not called something different for me. It's still called curling. It should be called straight stone pushing, destroying, because that's what I do. But you can do that in Kingston. Well, thanks for the recommendation.

15:12Chemmy Alcott: Sounds like mini golf is out the window now. Curling is in or stone pushing. but only once but only once you can't do the double prod oh my god the double prod

15:26Tamara Kormornick: oh yeah yeah it's a one-hit wonder don't touch it again i know i love that i mean it was like you know you love ice hockey because people pull off their gloves and they're logistically allowed to get amongst it that was like the curling version and i mean just so it was like a drop Saturday night on EastEnders.

15:45Chemmy Alcott: Incredible moments. Let's talk about some of the other moments or scandals that have caught the world's attention. We've heard stories about, obviously, the alleged curling incidents. There have been quite a few. Rumours swirling over male ski jumpers using crotch enlarging injections of hyaluronic acid. Did that get around the

16:09Tamara Kormornick: village that was the most off-piece start of media I've ever seen in any Olympics I mean there's a lot you prepare for you know what what some of the stories are going to be that was not something that any of us and it went you know it went viral it was massive and I mean that's a bad word use of words so luckily it was so early on that it didn't I mean it just it just made everyone excited to tune in I don't think it distracted from anyone doing well um I mean these are things that only ever come out in the Olympics uh and I you know you just love to to be shocked by all the stories and the scandals and yeah finally I want to chat to you a little bit about the funding that the

17:05Chemmy Alcott: athletes get and the support they get from Team GB. It's quite easy to look at a medal table and think Team GB are not going to make the top 10 overall in terms of medal placement. Do you think Team GB are punching above their weight considering they get about 7.2 million pounds of funding from UK sport?

17:29Tamara Kormornick: I mean, when you put it all together, it sounds like a huge amount of money. But if you compare that to any of the Alpine nations, it is a drop in the ocean. And it isn't really about the money equating to medals. It's about inspiring people to get out there and take up sport and be healthy. And you cannot put a value on that. You cannot put a value on these gold medalists getting three and a half thousand people to sign up to a sport they'd never heard of. You know, that is giving people inspiration. It's making people take care of their health, get outside do something new bring happiness I mean for me that's what it's all about well

18:08Chemmy Alcott: thanks so much Shemi for joining me on the standard podcast it's been really valuable to

18:12Tamara Kormornick: have your insider perspective oh thank you so much for having me I mean I love I love talking about Olympians I mean being able to be here as a fan and also working it's like it's like the dream

18:30Chemmy Alcott: and that's the standard for all the latest news head to standard.co.uk if you're new here hit follow and give us a rating if you'd like to get in touch email us at podcasts at standard.co.uk we'll be back here tomorrow morning see you then