Nile Wilson is as determined as ever to continue challenging the nation to get active with the release of four new Winter Olympic-fuelled vlogs.
Wilson, 26, became the first Brit to bag an individual medal on the horizontal bar when he picked up bronze at Rio 2016.
The former gymnast since retired in 2021 following neck surgery and has instead turned his attention to getting kids and adults involved in sport through his energised, action-packed YouTube content.
Following the overwhelming success of his National Lottery-powered Summer Olympic series – that featured taekwondo, skateboarding, BMX, climbing and diving – Wilson was once again challenged to try four Winter Olympics sports and document the experience on his channel, which has racked up more than 1.5 million subscribers.
Curling, skeleton, snowboarding and short track speed skating are now on the agenda and Wilson hopes his innovative content can be the catalyst for greater participation in sport.
He said: “For kids coming up, and even for adults, just taking part in sport is something I’m so passionate about. It’s like a dream job trying all these unbelievable sports.
“The other part of our message is that as gymnasts, we’re so aware of our bodies that we can pick up these sports really quickly.”
But as Wilson found out, even for a former Olympic gymnast, some sports are easier to master than others.
“Snowboarding’s up there with the toughest so far,” he admitted.
“Even using the button lift, to just put this thing between your legs and slide up the slope was so difficult. It took me ten minutes with loads of cuts and bruises. It was the hardest part of the day.
“Curling’s quite self-explanatory. We were pretty good at that.
“But if there was a sport I’d seriously go for I feel like skeleton would be the one for me, in terms of being able to technically progress to that level. I’m saying that very naively, by the way!”
Wilson’s gymnastics career was fuelled by vital National Lottery funding that allowed him to train full-time, access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support.
And despite Team GB’s mixed Winter Olympic campaign in Beijing, Wilson is acutely aware of the importance of National Lottery funding in penetrating all levels of sport.
“The National Lottery invests 30 million pounds a week into grassroots sports, which is absolutely phenomenal,” he said.
“It also helps the Olympians that you see on the TV, including myself.
“Sport is so scientific now and there’s such a professionalism towards it and that wouldn’t happen without funding. There’s no way.
“Without the funding we wouldn’t have had the opportunities, the facilities, the access to strength and conditioning that we’ve got.”
Wilson’s videos are proving extremely popular, with 326,473,179 collective views and counting.
And he added: “I love creating videos. I love making content. I love inspiring people and to be able to do it with such a big audience is fantastic.
“Hopefully if you click on a video it can distract you for ten minutes, you can laugh and be inspired to get involved in sport.
“I’m not stopping anytime soon. I can tell you that.”
And the benefits of his content are evident from the frequent messages he receives from fans, telling him how his videos helped them get moving too.
He said: “It’s such a great feeling to know that you’ve impacted someone’s life from your hard work and what you do. There’s no greater compliment.
“That’s probably the biggest reason that keeps me going.”
And will we see a medal for Team GB by the end of Beijing 2022?
“Definitely. 100%. Let’s keep thinking positively. Let’s get behind Great Britain.”
National Lottery players are one of the biggest supporters of Team GB and ParalympicsGB winter athletes and raise more than £30 million each week for good causes including grassroots and elite sport. Discover the positive impact playing The National Lottery has at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk and get involved by using the hashtag: #TNLAthletes
