Winter Olympics athletes aiming to 'connect and inspire'

Georgina Harland holds up her Bronze medal at the 2004 olympics. Credit: PA Images

Team GB's Chef de Mission, Georgina Harland, from Kent, has told ITV News Meridian preparing for the Winter Olympics "has not been ideal" but their athletes "are in a good place".

The 43 year old said it would be normal to visit a host city many times ahead of a Games but, due to the pandemic, that has not been possible.

Georgina said: "We would typically go out to a host city many, many times. We'd walk the floor, we'd measure the windows, we'd measure the walls before the athletes arrive. Everybody's in the same boat so it's how do we prepare ourselves and keep what we call our competitive advantage. 

"We're bouncing from the summer Games into the winter Games, with a really short space of time between the two, and there's a real opportunity there. We saw how the summer Games captured the nation and we have a real opportunity to do that again."

British Modern Pentathlete Georgina Harland celebrates after finishing the cross country, the final event of the Modern Pentathlon. Credit: PA Images

Harland is the British Olympic Association's first female Chef de Mission and won a bronze medal at the summer Olympics, in Athens, in 2004.

Whilst not setting a medals target for Team GB for Beijing 2022, she says there is an opportunity for athletes to "connect and inspire" following Britain's success in Tokyo during the summer.

Watch: Georgina Harland.

Now, with less than 100 days to go until the Winter Olympics get under way, Harland says there is plenty of work going on behind the scenes to ensure Britain's athletes are able to perform to the best of their ability come February next year.