Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale win Britain’s first Olympic gold on snow

Watching winter sports on the BBC isn’t like watching winter sports on ORF, or even like watching winter sports on ARD, but it doesn’t help. Living in London, you don’t often get the chance to see slush-free snow, not even on TV.

The BBC broadcasts the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina every day on one of its main channels, and you can also choose another channel in the media library. However, there have already been a lot of complaints from the few viewers who like to watch the Winter Olympics in this country because, on the one hand, the BBC is showing fewer Olympics than ever before after parts of the broadcast rights went to the pay channel TNT Sports.

And on the other hand, because you can rarely watch an entire event straight through, you often switch back and forth between the stadiums and cities. Only curling, accepted as a topic of conversation in south London hipster circles, runs longer, even occasionally in the pub when there isn’t a rugby or football match on, which is admittedly rare.

On the other hand, there are no entire ice hockey games in one go on the BBC, which is a shame because the British commentators give an ice hockey broadcast their own linguistic touch. When someone is sent crashing into the boards, the commentator states matter-of-factly: “He is dispatched into the boards.” Which in German would be something like Bernd Schmelzer saying in Heinz Sielmann’s tone that the player had just been sent out into the ice.

The Nightingales have become world stars in these games within minutes, at least in Great Britain

But on Sunday there was of course snow, a lot of snow, on the BBC even for a long time without switching off, because Sunday was like that Daily Mailwhich has a very different tone than the BBC’s ice hockey commentators, a “historic Sunday”. On Sunday, the British won two gold medals, one of which was their first ever ever on snow. Sunday brought a “blizzard of gold” for the tabloid headliners.

Snowboard cross riders Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won gold in the mixed competition, which was described on the BBC by expert Jenny Jones with a feeling not seen in rugby or football. Bristol’s Jenny Jones was the first British woman to ever win a snow medal at the Olympics, taking bronze in snowboard slopestyle in Sochi in 2014. In preparation, she avoided Irish dancing and high heels for months, typical causes of ankle injuries in the United Kingdom.

It was all “Wonderful,” said Jenny Jones in a cracking voice, not just for Charlotte and Huw, but for everyone in the team, the coaches, “all the staff,” and the waxer, yes, “the waxer,” who was particularly important, “so important really, yes.”

Meanwhile, the colleagues from TNT Sports came up with the good idea of ​​pointing a camera at Huw Nightingale’s parents during the race, Clive and Christine Nightingale from Bolton near Manchester, “parents of the Olympic Champiooon”, as Clive Nightingale shouted. As is often the case in the social media age, the Nightingales have become world stars in these games within minutes, at least in Great Britain.

“My son,” cried Clive, “our son, our son,” cried Christine, “I had something to do with it too, hahaa,” laughter, cheers. Christine: “Unbelievable”, then: “I changed his nappyyy!” Pause. Clive: “And so did Eee!”, laughter, cheers, “yeaaahhhh!” At the awards ceremony they both took off their Team GB wool hats and sang along, almost in tears. “Look at that,” Clive said to Christine. “Fucking gold.”

These snow Olympic champions actually grew up in the snow, not in Great Britain. Charlotte Bankes comes from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, her parents moved to the French Alps when she was four and she competed for France until 2018. The Nightingales, in turn, moved with Huw to Westendorf near Kitzbühel when he was still a child to open a guesthouse. But that makes the story even better, because now, Clive Nightingale said to the cameras, now Westendorf has an Olympic champion. And not one from Austria. But, “I’m afraid”, one from Great Britain.