No gold postbox for Kent's Lizzy Arnold

Kent's Lizzy Yarnold won't get a gold postbox in her home town of Maidstone after winning Gold in the women's skeleton race at the Winter Olympics. The Royal Mail says it was an honour reserved for the home Gold medalists at London 2012 .

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No gold post box for Lizzy

Lizzy Yarnold might have delivered Winter Olympic gold in Sochi on Friday night - but her skeleton win was not first-class as far as the Royal Mail is concerned.

The Royal Mail has confirmed Yarnold will not be granted the honour of a golden postbox in her home town of Sevenoaks, Kent, despite pulling out their paintbrushes for every one of the British gold medallists at London 2012.

The Royal Mail said the tribute was a "one-off gesture" intended for British athletes who won gold in their home Olympics at London 2012.

London 2012 was a unique occasion. The UK hosted the Games and our athletes performed extraordinarily well. Because of our status as the host nation, Royal Mail chose to mark the achievement of our athletes through gold post boxes as well as stamps. For the Winter Olympics 2014, Royal Mail will not be creating gold postboxes but we are exploring other ways of marking the achievements of our athletes, including creating a special postmark."

– Royal Mail statement

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Team GB Winter Olympians congratulate Yarnold

Team GB's short track speed skater Jonathan Eley, ice skater Penny Coomes and short track speed skater Richard Shoebridge have tweeted:

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Lizzy Yarnold 'so chuffed' to win gold on Valentine's Day

Lizzy Yarnold, Britain's first gold medallist at the 2014 Sochi Games, said she was "so chuffed" to win the women's skeleton and that it was "lovely" her victory happened on Valentine's Day.

Great Britain's Lizzy Yarnold celebrates winning gold. Credit: David Davies/PA Wire

She told the BBC: "I don't think it's going to sink in for a long time...[on the fourth and last run] I was totally relaxed and enjoyed it, it was a bit of a messy run, I'm so thrilled I'm here."

"As an athlete you give up so much but on a day like today, it's so worth it," she added.

Yarnold added that she wanted to "show the world" she was capable of winning the gold medal.

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