Shelley Rudman (born 23 March 1981) is a

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

bobsleigh athlete who was the 2013 world champion in the event. She won a silver medal at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

, and is a former World Cup and European champion.

Early life and education

Rudman was born in

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

, and later lived in

Pewsey Pewsey is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish at the centre of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, about south of Marlborough, Wiltshire, Marlborough and west of London. It is within reach of the M4 motorway and the A303 and i ...

, Wiltshire, where she attended Pewsey Vale School. She later attended

New College, Swindon New College is a Further education, further and Higher education, higher education institution in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. There are two main campuses, Queens Drive and North Star, as well as an Adult Learning Centre in Swindon town centre. ...

. She took up skeleton in October 2002, after a university friend and skeleton athlete introduced her to the sport at the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

push track. At the time, she was working full-time at the

ACS International Schools ACS International Schools, known as American Community Schools until 2005, is a group of international schools operating three schools near the edge of Greater London, with campuses in Cobham and Egham in Surrey, and Hillingdon Hillingdon ...

Cobham, Surrey Cobham () is a large village in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, centred south-west of London and northeast of Guildford on the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. It has a commercial/services High Street, a significant number of pr ...

and was in her third year of a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree course at St Mary's College, Twickenham.

Early career

After unsuccessfully seeking a place on Bath University's skeleton development team, she decided to apply for an ice school in Norway run by the British military to pursue the sport. The following season in 2003 (after having only three weeks on-ice training since starting the sport), she qualified for the World Junior Championships where she finished in 10th position and was the highest-ranked British woman. In 2004, she won the Europa Cup in

Igls Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, Austria. In 2005, she won gold in the World University Games, held in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, Austria.

2006 Winter Olympics

In order to take part in the 2006 Olympics, Rudman needed £4,000 to buy a new

sled A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners ...

. Her home town held a sponsored

canoe A canoe is a lightweight, narrow watercraft, water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles. In British English, the term ' ...

event (canoeing from Pewsey to Bath, where she was training) to help raise the money. Rudman also spent some time working as a supply teacher at Devizes School, a secondary school in Devizes, Wiltshire. By the time the 2006 Winter Olympics began in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Rudman said she was aiming for a top 10 position; however, during a practice run she had the fastest time. In the first heat, she was 4th; after the second heat, she finished with a silver medal. Live television pictures were shown from her local

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

, where a large crowd that had gathered to watch her race were cheering and celebrating her victory. On her return to

, the village put on an open top bus tour where thousands of people attended to witness her return.

Skeleton World Cup performances: 2007–2009

After a summer of media commitments after winning her silver medal, Rudman returned to the British selection races in Lillehammer where she set an unofficial track record. During the season an ongoing knee injury flared up; she had intensive physiotherapy to get her through the remaining World Cup rounds, before returning to the UK after the World Championships in St Moritz to have immediate knee surgery. Rudman's best finish at the

FIBT World Championships The IBSF World Championships (known as the FIBT World Championships until 2015), part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since FIBT World Championships 1930, 1930. Starting with 2002, no Wo ...

was 10th in the women's skeleton event at

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. She later announced that she was to become a mother in October and would be taking half the following season off. She sat out the

2007–08 Skeleton World Cup The 2007–08 Skeleton World Cup is a multi race tournament over a season for Skeleton (sport), skeleton. The season started on 26 November 2007 and ended on 24 February 2008. The World Cup is organised by the FIBT who also run world cups and champ ...

season to give birth to her daughter Ella Marie and have a knee operation (although she returned to the Inter-continental circuit in North America in January where she finished second (Park City) and won the penultimate race in Lake Placid), and made an impact on her return to the sport for the 2008–09 season. Rudman won the 2008–09 Skeleton World Cup event at

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

on 12 December 2008. She then earned her second medal of her 2008/09 World Cup campaign with a silver medal at

Königssee The Königssee () is a natural lake in the southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park. Description Situated within the Bercht ...

in Germany, in January 2009. She won the 2009 European Bob Skeleton Championships at the St Moritz track in Switzerland, breaking the track record with a time of 1:09.97 on her second run.

FIBT World Cup: 2009–10 season

Rudman repeated her feat of finishing the season in 2nd place overall in the World Cup, behind champion Mellissa Hollingsworth of Canada. Over the 8-round seasons, she took gold medal wins in Cesana and St. Moritz, a second place in Lake Placid and a third place at Konigssee. The last race of the season in

, Austria, also counted as the 2010 European Championships, and Rudman finished with the bronze medal in 3rd place.

2010 Winter Olympics

2010 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony - Great Britain entering cropped

On 29 January 2010, Rudman was officially announced as part of the Team GB Skeleton Bobsleigh squad to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. She was the flagbearer for Britain at those games. An hour's delay to the race start affected the settings Rudman had chosen for the first run, which resulted in her finishing low in the overall standings after day one. The following day, after analysing and changing her settings, she set the fastest time of the day, breaking her push start

personal best A personal record, or a personal best (abbreviated to PB), is an individual's best performance in a given sporting discipline. It is most commonly found in athletic sports, such as track and field, other forms of running, swimming and weightlifting ...

, but the time deficit from the previous day was too much to catch up and she finished 6th overall in the women's skeleton – just missing out on claiming a second Olympic medal. The gold was won by fellow British competitor

Amy Williams Amy Joy Williams, (born 29 September 1982) is a British former skeleton racer and Olympic gold medallist. Originally a runner, she began training in skeleton in 2002 after trying the sport on a push-start track at the University of Bath. Al ...

FIBT World Cup: 2011–12 season

After coming second in the Skeleton World Cup for the previous three years, Rudman secured the World Cup title at the end of the 2011–12 season. A third place finish in the last race of the season in Calgary, Canada, gave the UK athlete her fifth podium finish of the season and moved her to the top of the final rankings ahead of German duo

Marion Thees Marion Thees (born Marion Trott on 5 July 1984 in Eisenach) is a German retired skeleton racer who has competed since 2001. She won two golds at the 2009 FIBT World Championships in Lake Placid, New York, earning them in the women's skeleton a ...

(2nd) and

Anja Huber Anja Huber (born 20 May 1983 in Berchtesgaden) is a German skeleton racer who has competed since 2003. She earned two gold medals at the 2008 FIBT World Championships in Altenberg, Germany, winning them in women's skeleton and the mixed bobslei ...

(3rd).

World rankings progression

* 2007–08 36th * 2008–09 2nd * 2009–10 2nd * 2010–11 2nd * 2011–12 1st * 2012–13 7th * 2013–14 3rd Based on end of season FIBT rankings.

Personal life

Rudman is married to fellow British skeleton competitor

Kristan Bromley Kristan Bromley (born 7 March 1972) is a retired British skeleton racer who has competed since 1996. He won the gold medal in the men's event at the 2008 FIBT World Championships in Altenberg, Germany. This was Great Britain's first gold meda ...

, with whom she has a daughter born in October 2007, and another in January 2015. In February 2016, Rudman was nominated to be an

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

Athlete Role Model for the Winter Youth Olympics in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

, Norway. In 2017, Rudman set up a fitness gym business in her home county of Wiltshire. Rudman is a trustee and ambassador of Wiltshire and Bath Air Ambulance Charity.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudman, Shelley 1981 births Living people Alumni of St Mary's University, Twickenham People from Pewsey Sportspeople from Wiltshire English female skeleton racers Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic skeleton racers for Great Britain Skeleton racers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Skeleton racers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Skeleton racers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in skeleton Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Winter World University Games medalists in skeleton FISU World University Games gold medalists for Great Britain Competitors at the 2005 Winter Universiade Team Bath winter athletes 21st-century English sportswomen