Sorry about beating my drum yet again. But, seeing as we now have a grand total of FOUR competitors going to Sochi, I just had to create a thread!
Figure Skating:
Jenna McCorkell, 27
Coleraine, Co. Londonderry
http://www.jennamccorkell.com
http://www.sochi2014.com/en/athlete-jenna-mccorkell
Team GB
Ladies Singles
Snowboarding:
Aimee Fuller, 22
Bangor, Co. Down
http://www.aimeefuller.co.uk
http://www.sochi2014.com/en/athlete-aimee-fuller
Team GB
Women’s Slopestyle
Alpine Skiing:
Florence Bell, 17
Tandragee, Co. Armagh
http://florencebell.co.uk
http://www.sochi2014.com/en/athlete-florence-bell
Team Ireland
Women’s Slalom and Women’s Giant Slalom
Admittedly, of these three, only Jenna was born and grew up in Northern Ireland.
Aimee was born and reared in England to a Northern Irish family. They moved to America when Aimee was 12, which is where she took up snowboarding. But, they returned home to Northern Ireland when Aimee was 16.
Florence was born in England and has lived her whole life over there. Her Dad is from Tandragee, but went over to England to go to University, and stayed. Her older sister, Victoria ( http://victoriabell.co.uk ), is also an Alpine skier.
As I have mentioned quite a few times, people in Northern Ireland are automatically entitled to dual British and Irish nationality. So, our sportspeople can represent either country.
Jenna and Aimee have competed for Great Britain their whole career.
Florence (and Victoria, for that matter) used to compete for Great Britain, but switched to Ireland a few years ago. Flo was the only competitor representing Ireland at the 2012 Youth Olympics.
Additionally, we have one competitor in the Winter Paralympics.
Alpine Skiing:
Kelly Gallagher, 28
Bangor, Co. Down
http://www.kelly-gallagher.co.uk
Team GB
Women's Slalom (Visually Impaired) and Women's Giant Slalom (Visually Impaired)
Like Jenna, Kelly was born and reared over here. She is competing in the B3 partially sighted class, and her guide is Charlotte Evans, who is from Kent in England. As she is literally Kelly's eyes, it would be churlish not to include her in this discussion. So, here is a photo of them together.
In 2010, Kelly became the first person from Northern Ireland to compete in a Winter Paralympics.
During the Olympics, I will try to keep you up-to-date with how all the Northern Irish girls are getting on through this thread.
Team NI Collage
I realise that this will not be of much interest to most users of this forum. But, for a country as small as mine (and where winter sports are not a big thing), having this many entries at a Winter Olympics is a big achievement!
May the luck of the Irish be with them all!!!
CaroLiza_fan
Figure Skating:
Jenna McCorkell, 27
Coleraine, Co. Londonderry
http://www.jennamccorkell.com
http://www.sochi2014.com/en/athlete-jenna-mccorkell
Team GB
Ladies Singles
Snowboarding:
Aimee Fuller, 22
Bangor, Co. Down
http://www.aimeefuller.co.uk
http://www.sochi2014.com/en/athlete-aimee-fuller
Team GB
Women’s Slopestyle
Alpine Skiing:
Florence Bell, 17
Tandragee, Co. Armagh
http://florencebell.co.uk
http://www.sochi2014.com/en/athlete-florence-bell
Team Ireland
Women’s Slalom and Women’s Giant Slalom
Admittedly, of these three, only Jenna was born and grew up in Northern Ireland.
Aimee was born and reared in England to a Northern Irish family. They moved to America when Aimee was 12, which is where she took up snowboarding. But, they returned home to Northern Ireland when Aimee was 16.
Florence was born in England and has lived her whole life over there. Her Dad is from Tandragee, but went over to England to go to University, and stayed. Her older sister, Victoria ( http://victoriabell.co.uk ), is also an Alpine skier.
As I have mentioned quite a few times, people in Northern Ireland are automatically entitled to dual British and Irish nationality. So, our sportspeople can represent either country.
Jenna and Aimee have competed for Great Britain their whole career.
Florence (and Victoria, for that matter) used to compete for Great Britain, but switched to Ireland a few years ago. Flo was the only competitor representing Ireland at the 2012 Youth Olympics.
Additionally, we have one competitor in the Winter Paralympics.
Alpine Skiing:
Kelly Gallagher, 28
Bangor, Co. Down
http://www.kelly-gallagher.co.uk
Team GB
Women's Slalom (Visually Impaired) and Women's Giant Slalom (Visually Impaired)
Like Jenna, Kelly was born and reared over here. She is competing in the B3 partially sighted class, and her guide is Charlotte Evans, who is from Kent in England. As she is literally Kelly's eyes, it would be churlish not to include her in this discussion. So, here is a photo of them together.
In 2010, Kelly became the first person from Northern Ireland to compete in a Winter Paralympics.
During the Olympics, I will try to keep you up-to-date with how all the Northern Irish girls are getting on through this thread.
Team NI Collage
I realise that this will not be of much interest to most users of this forum. But, for a country as small as mine (and where winter sports are not a big thing), having this many entries at a Winter Olympics is a big achievement!
May the luck of the Irish be with them all!!!
CaroLiza_fan