Shelley Rudman (born 23 March 1981) is a former skeleton bobsleigh athlete. She was the 2013 world champion in the event, won an Olympic silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in skeleton and is a former World Cup and European champion.

Early career

Rudman took up skeleton in October 2002, after a university friend and skeleton athlete introduced her to the sport at the University of Bath push track. At the time, she was working full-time at the

ACS International Schools ACS International Schools is a group of four independent schools catering for local and international families - three in England and one in Qatar. Until 2005, the organisation was known as American Community Schools. The four campuses are in C ...

, Cobham, Surrey and was in her third year of a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree course at St Mary's College, Twickenham. After unsuccessfully seeking a place on Bath University's skeleton development team, she decided to apply for an ice school in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

run by the British military to pursue the sport. The following season in 2003 (after having only three weeks on ice training since starting the sport), she qualified for the World Junior Championships where she finished in 10th position and was the highest-ranked British woman. In 2004, she won the Europa Cup in

Igls Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a po ...

, Austria. In 2005, she won gold in the World University Games, held in Innsbruck, Austria.

2006 Winter Olympics

In order to take part in the 2006 Olympics, Rudman needed £4000 to buy a new

sled A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners ...

. Her home town held a sponsored

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

event (canoeing from Pewsey to Bath where she was training) to help raise the money. Rudman also spent some time as a supply teacher at Devizes School, a secondary school located in

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between ...

, Wiltshire. By the time the 2006 Winter Olympics began in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, Rudman said she was aiming for a top 10 position; however, during a practice run she had the fastest time. In the first heat, she was 4th; after the second heat, she finished with a silver medal. Live television pictures were shown from her local

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, where a large crowd that had gathered to watch her race were cheering and celebrating her victory. On her return to

Pewsey Pewsey is a large village and civil parish at the centre of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, about south of Marlborough and west of London. It is within reach of the M4 motorway and the A303 and is served by Pewsey railway station on the Re ...

, the village put on an open top bus tour where thousands of people attended to witness her return.

Skeleton World Cup performances: 2007–2009

After a summer of media commitments after winning her silver medal, Rudman returned to the British selection races in Lillehammer where she set an unofficial track record. During the season an ongoing knee injury flared up; she had intensive physiotherapy to get her through the remaining World Cup rounds, before returning to the UK after the World Championships in St Moritz to have immediate knee surgery. Rudman's best finish at the

FIBT World Championships The IBSF World Championships (known as the FIBT World Championships until 2015), part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since 1930. Starting with 2002, championships of non-Winter Olympi ...

was 10th in the women's skeleton event at St. Moritz in 2007. She later announced that she was to become a mother in October and would be taking half the following season off. She sat out the 2007–08 Skeleton World Cup season to give birth to her daughter Ella Marie and have a knee operation (although she returned to the Inter-continental circuit in North America in January where she finished second (Park City) and won the penultimate race in Lake Placid), and made an impact on her return to the sport for the 2008–09 season. Rudman won the

2008–09 Skeleton World Cup The 2008–09 Skeleton World Cup is a multi-race tournament over a season for skeleton. The season started on November 28, 2008, in Winterberg and ended on February 12, 2009, in Park City, Utah. The World Cup is organised by the FIBT who also run ...

event at

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on 12 December 2008. She then earned her second medal of her 2008/09 World Cup campaign with a silver medal at

Königssee The Königssee is a natural lake in the extreme southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park. Description Situated within the Berch ...

in Germany, in January 2009. She won the 2009 European Bob Skeleton Championships at the St Moritz track in Switzerland, breaking the track record with a time of 1:09.97 on her second run.

FIBT World Cup: 2009–10 season

Rudman repeated her feat of finishing the season in 2nd place overall in the World Cup, behind champion Mellissa Hollingsworth of Canada. Over the 8-round seasons, she took gold medal wins in Cesana and St. Moritz, a second place in Lake Placid and a third place at Konigssee. The last race of the season in

, Austria, also counted as the 2010 European Championships, and Rudman finished with the bronze medal in 3rd place.

2010 Winter Olympics

2010 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony - Great Britain entering cropped

On 29 January 2010, Rudman was officially announced as part of the Team GB Skeleton Bobsleigh squad to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. She was the flagbearer for Britain at those games. An hour's delay to the race start affected the settings Rudman had chosen for the first run which resulted in her finishing low in the overall standings after day one. The following day, after analysing and changing her settings, she set the fastest time of the day, breaking her push start personal best, but the time deficit from the previous day was too much to catch up and she finished 6th overall in the women's skeleton – just missing out on claiming a second Olympic medal. The gold was won by fellow British competitor

Amy Williams Amy Joy Williams, (born 29 September 1982) is a British former skeleton racer and Olympic gold medallist. Originally a runner, she began training in skeleton in 2002 after trying the sport on a push-start track at the University of Bath. Altho ...

FIBT World Cup: 2011–12 season

After coming second in the Skeleton World Cup for the previous three years, Rudman secured the World Cup title at the end of the 2011-12 season. A third place finish in the last race of the season in Calgary, Canada, gave the UK athlete her fifth podium finish of the season and moved her to the top of the final rankings ahead of German duo

Marion Thees Marion Thees (born Marion Trott on 5 July 1984 in Eisenach) is a German retired skeleton racer who has competed since 2001. She won two golds at the 2009 FIBT World Championships in Lake Placid, New York, earning them in the women's skeleton an ...

(2nd) and

Anja Huber Anja Huber (born 20 May 1983 in Berchtesgaden) is a German skeleton racer who has competed since 2003. She earned two gold medals at the 2008 FIBT World Championships in Altenberg, Germany, winning them in women's skeleton and the mixed bobslei ...

(3rd).

World rankings progression

* 2007–08 36th * 2008–09 2nd * 2009–10 2nd * 2010–11 2nd * 2011–12 1st * 2012–13 7th * 2013–14 3rd Based on end of season FIBT rankings.

Personal life

Rudman is married to fellow British skeleton competitor

Kristan Bromley Kristan Bromley (born 7 March 1972) is a retired British skeleton racer who has competed since 1996. He won the gold medal in the men's event at the 2008 FIBT World Championships in Altenberg, Germany. This was Great Britain's first gold medal ...

, with whom she has daughters Ella-Marie Rudman-Bromley, born in October 2007, and Sofia Rudman-Bromley, born January 2015. In February 2016, Rudman was nominated to be an

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

Athlete Role Model for the

Winter Youth Olympics The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consisten ...

(YOG) in Lillehammer, Norway.

References

External links

*
Supporters website

Bromley Technologies website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudman, Shelley 1981 births Living people People from Pewsey English female skeleton racers Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic skeleton racers of Great Britain Skeleton racers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Skeleton racers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Skeleton racers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in skeleton Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Universiade medalists in skeleton Universiade gold medalists for Great Britain Competitors at the 2005 Winter Universiade Team Bath winter athletes