Shelley Rudman has high hopes for British success at the Beijing Winter Olympics but admits the coronavirus situation surrounding the Games makes medal predictions tricky.
The sporting showpiece in China is taking place under strict protocols due to the pandemic.
Great Britain have a medal target of between three and seven, having secured a record five at each of the last two editions.
Rudman, who claimed skeleton silver for GB at the Turin 2006 Games, told the PA news agency ahead of Friday’s Beijing opening ceremony: “I think it’s a really hard Games to put medals around people’s necks because it is such a different situation.
“I’m just happy they have all got out there and I think all the athletes are going ‘oh my goodness, we’ve got here, we’ve done it.’
“It (the conditions at the Games) is definitely a challenge. Even just moving around the village, I think some of the athletes will be really worried about coming into contact with a Covid case, because then it means they have to quarantine, and if it’s close to their event, that’s really going to disrupt them.
“I think they just have to be really careful that they try to avert disaster as much as they can.
I think it's a really hard Games to put medals around people's necks because it is such a different situation
“So long they can avoid over-thinking about Covid, which is going to be really hard…then we definitely could be in with a chance of medals.”
Rudman feels GB matching the haul of the last two Games is “definitely attainable if everything goes right”, and that “we may have some interesting medals after that.”
Rudman’s silver was among a run of GB claiming a skeleton medal at each Games from 2002 to 2014, and then three at Pyeongchang 2018, including a second gold for Lizzy Yarnold.
Regarding the GB skeleton team for Beijing, which includes Pyeonchang bronze-medallist Laura Deas Rudman said: “The hope is they can step it up on the Olympic event day because not all of them have been firing so well throughout the World Cup season, particularly the female side.
“Brogan (Crowley) is up and coming, I think she’ll be aiming to do as well as she can. I think Laura will be aiming to try to medal, but it all depends on how her training goes and whether she connects with the track.
“I think the men, Matt (Weston) and Marcus (Wyatt), could potentially be outside medal hopes, because sporadically throughout the World Cup season, they’ve done really well, we’ve had Matt medal, and Marcus do really well on the Olympic track.”
Rudman has also spoken of Brad Hall (bobsleigh), Charlotte Bankes (snowboard cross), Isabel Atkin (slopestyle skiing) and Dave Ryding (alpine skiing) as athletes on the GB team she sees as having realistic medal hopes.
As well as coronavirus, another prominent talking point in the build-up to the Games has been criticism of the International Olympic Committee’s decision to award the event to China related to allegations of human rights abuses.
Asked for her thoughts on that, Rudman said: “I think on the team there’s a lot of young athletes, and they probably don’t want to get involved in the political side because they are literally just focused on the Olympics and competing and doing their event.
“I think it’s fair to leave that side of things to the IOC for future Olympics, let them figure out a plan of action and hear the voices of what is happening at the moment.”
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