The morning of the games we woke up at about
6am, everyone was very quiet at breakfast
and there was a strange vibe between all of
the riders. I couldn’t decide if I was
nervous or if that feeling in my stomach was
that feeling that you get when you wake up
early.
It was really cold, about -15 and the pipe
was like blue ice and as hard as concrete.
The nerves were definitely setting in as I
strapped in my bindings for the training.
The stands were starting to fill up while
I dropped in, my first run went fine. I un-strapped,
picked up my board and practically ran up
the halfpipe, and dropped in again, adrenaline
fully flowing.
i had about four runs and then that was it.
I
stood around at the top of the pipe waiting
for the comp to start, I paced about trying
to stay calm, I phoned my parents and
they said that they had just sat down
in the stands, my phone was going crazy
with text messages from friends and some
people that I don’t even know wishing
me good luck. I started to feel really
emotional and I felt a bit alone, I literally
had to slap myself to try and snap myself
out of this weird zone and tell myself
that it was no different than any other
world cup except from the whole media
hype.
i generally try not to watch the comp
as I think it can mess with your head
a little so I sat in the tent at the back
and sipped on bottles of powerade until
my number came up.
Before my run I had a good look around
at the thousands of heads and all of the
video cameras, especially the one that
was right up in my face. All of a sudden
I just totally relaxed and thought to
myself this is it! i dropped in and I
was flying....all going well until the
last hit where I over rotated into a double
cork 1080 (a viking flip) and I crashed.
The camera flew straight in to my face
and I could see myself on the big screen.
I waited for the score and it came up
as a 14 which isn't very good, as soon
as you fall you loose so many points.
Before my second run,
I spotted my Mum, Dad, and family cheering
and shouting, I waived back and quickly made
my way to the chair lift, I didn’t want
to appear rude but it felt weird seeing them
here at a snowboard event and I thought it
could be another thing to mess with my head.
While I was at the top my phone rang and it
was my mate Tommy, he was in the pub in my
home town of Plymouth, he said "everybody,
I have Wakeham on the phone" all I could
here was cheering. Tommy and the rest of my
friends were all in the pub watching live,
they were all pissed, it was only around 10am
on a sunday morning.
When I got home after the Olympics they all
showed me the video camera footage that they
had taken from the pub and let me tell you,
it was amazing!! They all had Wakeham t-shirts,
banners on the walls, and were shouting like
football fans, it nearly bought a tear to
my eye!
Anyway after that phone call I felt 100 times
better, I realised that I had done the hard
work and I had made it here so now I should
just relax, have fun and soak up the whole
olympic experience.
i decided that needed to land a clean run
and that I should do a safe clean run and
not the most technical risky run, that way
I could get a half decent position.
My run all went to plan and I rode across
the line with my hands in the air knowing
that I wasn’t going to come away from
this with a medal but with the satisfaction
that I had just rode in front of millions
of viewers in the Olympics and that people
were cheering and shouting my name. The camera
swooped in once again and I smiled at my friends
that were at home watching me in the pub on
the TV and motioned a kind of drink up movement
with my hand.
And you picked up some good points
for that run didn't you? What was your final
position?
Yeah I looked up at the screen where they
were playing my run in slow motion, then the
score came up and it was good! At this point
I was sat in 14th place, not good enough to
make the finals but in a way I was glad because
that ment that it was over for me now and
I could really relax. I went to the food tent
not really to eat but so that I could just
sit down for a little while and just take
it all in. I sat back and watched the finals
with my family in the crowd. After the event
finished I had to go and find my coach so
I said my goodbyes and that was the last time
I would see them until I returned to the UK.
Still a very respectable performance!
What was it like when you got back home?
Pretty crazy...my phone kept ringing with
reporters wanting interviews. I was live on
Radio 5 live and on radio Devon, my email
account was overflowing with people asking
me to wrie up my experience and questioning
me all about the event. I had a strange feeling
and I realised that that was it, two years
of training and all of the preperation and
it was all over with just two runs in a halfpipe.
Olympics to me now seems like a strange dream!
When I have been competing in world cups and
no one really cares, people gather on the
sides of the pipe and watch but they don’t
have to pay any money.
i could go to the X-Games and win gold and
the British press wouldn’t even care
but when it's in the Olympics it's all of
a sudden a real big thing..the whole media
hype that goes with the rings logo and name
THE OLYMPICS!
How did the competition format and atmosphere
compare to riding in smaller comps like the
Brits?
The atmosphere at the Olympics was much like
any other event but more tranquil. People
weren’t laughing and joking like they
were at world cups. I think every one knew
that the time was now, the time that they
have to be the best they have ever been and
it was a little bit spooky.
Did you meet any celebrities or royalty
while you were in Turin? Yeah I met Princess Anne at a posh
drinks doo. She was nice enough and she seemed
generally interested to know what we do. I
think that she actually came to watch my event.
I met Tom Green as well but that’s about
it. My event was right at the start of the
Olympics and after that I didn’t really
want to hang around so I went home to be with
friends and family.
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