Few people had outside of skiing had heard of Jade Etherington a few weeks ago but all of that changed after she and her guide, Caroline Powell, won four medals at the Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi.
Was skiing always special to you?
Everyone can ski, whether you need a specialist bit of equipment or a guide or just a helper, everyone can ski and that’s what I love about it.
Because we went on holiday and did the sport as a holiday activity I think that also was part of the enjoyment – the whole family could go. It wasn’t just something that I did because I couldn’t see.
What is the secret of a good partnership?
To work well in skiing, the guide needs to be a really good able bodied ski racer so that when they are going down the course, they’re not worried about skiing it; they concentrate on me.
Communication is definitely the key for us in a way that other people might not understand. It all depends on what the athlete’s vision is like. We use guides differently because of what we can and can’t see.
You can’t have much time to talk on the runs. Do you have a code?
In downhill you’ve got more time to talk because it’s not short sharp quick turns like slalom. In downhill she can call out the terrain a lot more and say ‘and turn’ or ‘and jump’ or ‘3,2,1 jump’. In slalom because it’s short, sharp turns you’ve got less time she’ll say ‘turn’ instead of ‘and turn’. If there’s a couple of gates that change the rhythm I have the words ‘wig’ and ‘wiggle’ – they’re very quick words and you can’t get them mixed up with anything else and so she would say ‘wiggle left’ that means the rhythm would change to the left. A ‘wiggle’ would be three quick changes. It really is quite technical.
You’re already used to success – you got a bronze at the 2013 IPC World Skiing Championships. Did you expect to be coming back with medals before you went out to Sochi?
I definitely overachieved and it was very much about Kelly (Gallagher) much of the time so I’m not really used to this, I was always in her shadow. I think maybe that helped me because I didn’t get the pressure.
If you had to pick one of your four medals as being particularly special, which one would it be?
To be honest the bronze is probably one of the top ones for me because I raced the day after winning the first silver and I made a huge mistake on the course. Normally, most people would have given up and skied out or not done as well so I’m really proud that I made a massive mistake but fought all the way and didn’t just ski to get to the bottom, so that’s definitely an achievement.
Obviously the first one’s going to be special and the other two (silvers) were just the best races of my life and they were both 0.6 seconds off the gold.
Do you think that your bronze is a good parallel to how disabled people should try to live their lives?
Yes, whatever you do. Outside of my skiing, I’m a trainee teacher and I find that very difficult, but for example, I plan the lessons, so I can teach them. I think everyone’s got something that’s going to make their life difficult. Everyone is the same, in the fact that everyone is different. I think you should use that to your advantage.
What’s it really like to be hurtling down the course?
It’s quite exhilarating. I don’t feel like I’m disabled when I’m skiing at all. It is exciting and you really want to do your best and you want to put everything you’ve got into it so you can be successful. I don’t see the point of doing something if you’re not going to do it right.
Skiing is a dangerous sport and you don’t want to get injured but I’d rather injure myself because I was going for it than just having a safe run. Then again, you have to be in it to win it. You have to finish. It’s a catch 22.
