Dave Ryding says he can spare the blushes of Team GB by saving them from their worst Winter Olympics for 30 years.
The slalom star finally enters the Games on Wednesday with the Brits days from going home empty-handed for the first time since Albertville in 1992.
Ryding, who learned to ski on a dry slope and won the nation’s first ever alpine World Cup title last month, insists his mindset is do or die.
“I know it is within me to win,” he said: “If there are no medals when Wednesday comes I will be extra motivated, I will dig even deeper, do all I can.
“Obviously we would have liked a medal already and it’s easy to delve on the negatives.
“But as Brits we stick together. We are a hardy nation. I may get a T-shirt - keep calm and watch slalom!”
Ryding has heard all the jokes about Brits at the Winter Olympics but at 35 is having the last laugh.
“In 2013 I started to get some top fives in the Europa Cup and people said, ‘god, I’ve been beaten by the Brit again,” he said.
“One of the top Austrians at the time said he actually retired because he got beat by me.
“But we’re certainly no laughing stock. I cringe when I hear Eddie the Eagle’s name being mentioned because we’ve come so far beyond that now.”
It might not feel like that here where Britain can’t get even close to a podium, and their remaining chances can be counted on one hand.
This is Ryding’s last shot at an Olympic medal. He marries his fiancé Mandy in May and insists she would “have a word“ if he was to say ‘we are going for another four years, darling’.
But no way is he just marking time as the old man of the team.
“Why wasn’t I in your paper’s ‘Hunky Men of the Team’ feature?” the Lancastrian asked a reporter. “I was more than disappointed. Is it the hairline? I’ll have to get my top off more often!
“Seriously, I look at Andy Murray, coming back from a hip injury at 34; [Roger] Federer and [Rafa] Nadal, unbelievable talents and still going.
“If you have the hunger to train, and you are still able to, I believe you can mix it with the younger ones.
“Don’t get me wrong, some mornings I can’t be arsed with the gym. But I just roll out the door and I never miss a session.”
Blizzard conditions hit the mountains outside Beijing hard this weekend, postponing events and making life so tough for the men’s giant slalom that 35 of the field of 89 did not finish.
But Ryding has his eye firmly on the prize, arguing that as he already has a top-nine Olympic finish there’s no reason to be content with another.
“With slalom the only way is to risk it,” he said. “The winner takes it. I have to go for it.”
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