For a country which does not boast a single track and hardly any snow, Britain has become something of a skeleton bob hotbed.
When Amy Williams hurtled to gold, she became Britains fifth skeleton medallist and extended a remarkable sequence that has seen this country on the podium in each of the five Olympics when the event has been contested.
The pioneer was David Ludovic George Hopetoun Carnegie, 11th Earl of Northesk, who won bronze at St Moritz in 1928.
In the medals: Alex Coomber won bronze for Britain at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City
An eccentric in the rich tradition of the aristocracy, the earl was a Scottish peer,war-time intelligence officer and Berkshire farmer, who had been pre-race favouriteafter smashing the Cresta Run record on the eve of the Games.
Twenty years later, skeleton returned to the Olympics and John Crammond won bronze Britain, only for skeleton to be erased from the programme again.
When it returned, at Salt Lake City in 2002, Alex Coomber came third in the womenscompetition, while Shelley Rudman won the silver four years ago in Turin.
Williams win netted Britain their ninth gold medal and 22nd overall in a chequered Winter Olympics history.
Before her triumph, Britains last individual female Winter Olympics champion wasJeannette Altwegg, who won the figure skating title at Oslo in 1952.
Born in India and raised in Lancashire, Altwegg was a junior Wimbledon finalistbefore giving up tennis to pursue figure skating.
More...Britain"s Olympic champion Nicola Minichiello admits - I want to win gold to answer the bullies who made my life a miserNo snow and no track, but still Britain rules the skeleton bob
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