Amy Williams Calls For Volunteers For London 2012

Amy Williams gave us all something to cheer about at the Winter Olympics earlier this year when she stormed to gold in the skeleton.

She became the first British individual gold medalist at a Winter Olympics for thirty years and made headlines all over the country.

But now she is helping to encourage people to volunteer for the 2012 Olympic Games in London and I caught up with her to talk about it.

- The volunteers scheme for the London 2012 kicks off today so can you tell me a bit about it?

Yes, there are six weeks from now until the applications close and we are basically trying to get as many people as possible to volunteer and sign up.

We want people to sign up and do something for their country, for the Games and to be part of the whole Olympic experience.

- You attended a winter Olympics yourself so how crucial are the volunteers in such a huge event?

Yean of course it's huge, the event can't really take place without all of the volunteers that are there helping.

For us when we were in Vancouver the volunteers that we had around us and the people that looked after us all of the time were such a huge help by just taking away the stress from the teams and the athletes so they could get on with their job.

Just anything from directing you, helping you, getting cars to go to place, and we are asking people to volunteer at ticket places and venues; the list of jobs is endless but they are a huge part in getting an event up and running. 

- So for anyone who wants to get involved how can they?

Basically they just need to go on the London 2012 website and they will link where you sign up to be a volunteer.

- It was back in February when you won your Olympic gold medal so when you look back on it now how was your Olympic experience?

Oh it was amazing, it was the best couple of weeks of my life I just loved every minute of it. Just the whole experience of being out at the Games, obviously my competition went as well as anyone could have hoped and that made a difference (laughs).

from the moment I got there, from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony, I just loved every minute, going back to the volunteers they made it so incredible as well they allowed you could just relax and have a good time and no one was panicking trying to find out last minute detail they were just there to help you.

- Going into the skeleton competition what were your expectations of yourself?

It's hard to say really! Training had gone really well there and the training a few days before my race had also gone well. I had put down some really good quick times so that really showed me that I could easily get a medal.

But I just went into the race knowing that I wanted to perform at my very best and to know that is what I had done. But I exceeded all of my expectations (laughs) and it was the best feeling in the world, it was a shock as well I guess.

- What do you remember of your winning run, or was it just a blur?

Oh yeah half of it was a blur but when I was standing at the top I knew what I had to do and I knew my steers in my head and I was just concentrating on that really.

But, if I'm honest, I can't really remember the bottom bit of the run and when I got to the end I was like 'oh goodness how did I do that?' It was a bit of a blur, yeah (laughs).

- You were the first woman to stand at the top of a Winter Olympic podium for fifty eight years how special was it to make a piece of history?

You don't know all of these facts and figure until afterwards as everyone keeps telling you and you realise what an achievement it is.

But it also makes you realise that you can go out and achieve anything and what might seem impossible isn't ad if you do everything then there is no reason why anyone can't stand on top of the podium.

I just thought that it was an incredible experience and it's something that I can't really put into words if I'm honest.

- Vancouver and the people of Canada in general seemed to really get behind the Winter Olympics so what were they like as a host city?

The city was alive, it was buzzing all the time and it was filled with excitement, everyone was just so happy and helpful; the volunteers always had a smile on their face and just wanted to be there and were proud of their country.

And I just hope that we can do the same in London because that was what really made the games, the people around it and the people that you saw everyday.

But the whole buzz was amazing and I think that London will be incredible.

- The Skeleton is not the most popular sport here in the UK so how did you get involved with the sport?

Many of us are like ex-athletes who have done sprinting but have realised that perhaps we weren't good enough to do it as a sport.

I was very lucky of where I live, we have got this track where we train in Bath, so I just gave that a go one day and though 'here is a sport that I could be good at'.

So I went off to the ice and actually learnt how to drive the sled so it was a bit of an unusual sport to come to but I was just lucky with where I lived.

- And what does training involve.

Well we have our summer and out winter life so in the summer we do all our speed and strength work, pretty much like what a 100m sprinter would do, so there is lots of power based work in the gym and then on out specially designed little push track.

Then all winter that's when we travel around competing at the different tracks all over the world on a circuit.

- And how have you found all of the excitement and attention that you have received since your win?

I've been really busy, it's been a bit none stop really with a lot of travelling around and doing things that I never thought I would be able to do.

- How excited are you about London 2012 is our capital going to be a great host city?

I hope so yeah I think that we are going to do an amazing job. I just think that we are very lucky to have a games in our own country and I just think that it will be the most incredible experience for all of the home athletes. So yeah I have no doubt that we will put on a great show.

- Finally what's next for you?

Well we will soon be heading back onto the ice for the competition season. I will slowly be getting back onto the ice but I need to do a bit more training, it's been a busy summer so training has taken a bit of back seat than what it would normally do, so I'm a little behind on my own fitness.

But I hope to slowly get back on track and build it back up and get back into competition.

If you want to volunteer for the 2012 Olympics then visit the website http://www.london2012.com/getinvolved/volunteer/index.php  

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

Amy Williams gave us all something to cheer about at the Winter Olympics earlier this year when she stormed to gold in the skeleton.

She became the first British individual gold medalist at a Winter Olympics for thirty years and made headlines all over the country.

But now she is helping to encourage people to volunteer for the 2012 Olympic Games in London and I caught up with her to talk about it.

- The volunteers scheme for the London 2012 kicks off today so can you tell me a bit about it?

Yes, there are six weeks from now until the applications close and we are basically trying to get as many people as possible to volunteer and sign up.

We want people to sign up and do something for their country, for the Games and to be part of the whole Olympic experience.

- You attended a winter Olympics yourself so how crucial are the volunteers in such a huge event?

Yean of course it's huge, the event can't really take place without all of the volunteers that are there helping.

For us when we were in Vancouver the volunteers that we had around us and the people that looked after us all of the time were such a huge help by just taking away the stress from the teams and the athletes so they could get on with their job.

Just anything from directing you, helping you, getting cars to go to place, and we are asking people to volunteer at ticket places and venues; the list of jobs is endless but they are a huge part in getting an event up and running. 

- So for anyone who wants to get involved how can they?

Basically they just need to go on the London 2012 website and they will link where you sign up to be a volunteer.

- It was back in February when you won your Olympic gold medal so when you look back on it now how was your Olympic experience?

Oh it was amazing, it was the best couple of weeks of my life I just loved every minute of it. Just the whole experience of being out at the Games, obviously my competition went as well as anyone could have hoped and that made a difference (laughs).

from the moment I got there, from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony, I just loved every minute, going back to the volunteers they made it so incredible as well they allowed you could just relax and have a good time and no one was panicking trying to find out last minute detail they were just there to help you.

- Going into the skeleton competition what were your expectations of yourself?

It's hard to say really! Training had gone really well there and the training a few days before my race had also gone well. I had put down some really good quick times so that really showed me that I could easily get a medal.

But I just went into the race knowing that I wanted to perform at my very best and to know that is what I had done. But I exceeded all of my expectations (laughs) and it was the best feeling in the world, it was a shock as well I guess.

- What do you remember of your winning run, or was it just a blur?

Oh yeah half of it was a blur but when I was standing at the top I knew what I had to do and I knew my steers in my head and I was just concentrating on that really.

But, if I'm honest, I can't really remember the bottom bit of the run and when I got to the end I was like 'oh goodness how did I do that?' It was a bit of a blur, yeah (laughs).

- You were the first woman to stand at the top of a Winter Olympic podium for fifty eight years how special was it to make a piece of history?

You don't know all of these facts and figure until afterwards as everyone keeps telling you and you realise what an achievement it is.

But it also makes you realise that you can go out and achieve anything and what might seem impossible isn't ad if you do everything then there is no reason why anyone can't stand on top of the podium.

I just thought that it was an incredible experience and it's something that I can't really put into words if I'm honest.

- Vancouver and the people of Canada in general seemed to really get behind the Winter Olympics so what were they like as a host city?

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