The winter olympics are taking place in Vancouver from 12 - 28 February 2010 The GB Team consists of 52 athletes -  10 of them from Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire Competitors

Nick Buckland
Elise Christie
Penny Coomes
Anthony Douglas
John Eley
Tom Iveson
Sarah Lindsay
Henry Nwume
Jack Whelbourne
Paul Worth

Schedules

Nicholas Buckland  - Ice Dance

Buckland is a law student at Nottingham Trent University and is a Nottingham Forest fan.He has been selected to partner Penny Coomes in the ice dance. The couple have known each other since they went to the same school, and are now both at the same university. Buckland has a skating pedigree, as his grandfather, Brian Grummitt, was British speed-skating champion and his grandmother used to skate in ice shows.He first started skating at the age of three and he and Coomes are currently the British number two ice dance pair.

Elise Christie – Figure Skating

Christie, from New Calder in West Lothian, Scotland, started figure skating at the age of eight but was head-hunted to try speed skating when she was 11.She continued to compete in both sports until she moved to Nottingham in 2006 and made the decision to concentrate on short track. She is a student in Nottingham but is a highly rated prospect in the sport, where coach Archie Marshall called her "a technically fabulous skater". She won a junior world championships silver medal in the 500m, and in 2008 was part of the women's relay team that won gold at the World Championships.She also came sixth in the 1500m at last year's European Championships

Penny Coomes Ice Dance

Coomes hails from Maidenhead in Berkshire but is now based in Nottingham, where she is studying psychology at university.She started skating at the age of eight and has been Nicholas Buckland’s ice dance partner since 2005.Coomes broke her foot at the 2008 British Championships but skated through the pain and went on to win.She then competed at the World Junior Championships before having surgery at the end of the season. She and Buckland are being coached by Evgeny Platov, who won Olympic ice-dance gold for Russia in 1994 and 1998.

Anthony Douglas - Short Track Speed Skating

Douglas is the British short-track record holder for 1500m, and has a World Cup bronze medal to his name.He will compete in the 5000m men’s relay in Vancouver.Outside of the sport Douglas, from Nottingham, enjoys property and landscape designing and admits to indulging in tiramisu.

Jonathan Eley Short Track Speed Skating

Eley came within a whisker of making the 2006 Winter Olympic final in the 500m short track, but settled for fifth on his Winter Games' debut.Initially, he was an ice hockey player for the Solihull Barons, but started speed skating at the age of 12 to improve his ice skills. At 6ft 2ins, he is unusually tall for a speed skater but it has not been a hindrance; he won gold in the 500m at the 2008 European Championships along with a silver at a World Cup race in Dresden.Eley, from Birmingham but living in Nottingham, has a number of other sporting interests including golf and cricket, and he supports Manchester United.

Tom Iveson Short Track Speed Skating

Iveson celebrated being called-up for the 2010 Winter Olympics by skating down his ice-covered road in Nottingham during the recent cold spell.He is a former ice hockey player who switched to speed skating when he was 12.Iveson won a world championship bronze medal in 2008 in the men’s relay on his 25th birthday, and also has a European silver medal.His sporting hero is Mark Cavendish, as he says, "he [Cavendish] backs up all he says with outstanding performances, under pressure and completely fatigued". Iveson, known as Tommy Boy, is a DJ in his spare time.

Sarah Lindsay Short Track Speed Skating

This will be Lindsay’s third and final Winter Olympics, and she is hoping to go out on top form after disappointing performances in 2002 and 2006.She won a silver medal in the 500m at the 2007 European Championships in front of her home crowd in Nottingham, which gave her a real buzz.Lindsay, from Kingston in Surrey, also has a World Cup silver medal and is a nine-time British champion in the 500m short track. Lindsay moved from figure skating to short track at the age of nine. She divides her time between being a world class athlete and a strength and conditioning coach for elite figure skaters, including Penny Coomes and Nicholas Buckland.She missed most of the 2007-08 season with a ruptured spinal disc but is back to full fitness.

Henry Nwume  - Bobsleigh

Nwume is a doctor in the Army who saw active service in Afghanistan in 2008.He had his first taste of bobsleigh at an Army Novice Ice Camp, where his power and speed impressed immediately.The 6ft 3ins Nwume excelled at rugby while at Oxford, and was part of the London Wasps squad that won the Heineken Cup in 2004.Nwume, from Nottingham, called time on his rugby career in 2005, and switched to bobsleigh but had to slim down from 19 to 18 stone so the bobsleigh did not exceed its weight limit.He sees nothing amazing in his change of sport saying: "There are lots of fantastic athletes out there who could be doing this."Sometimes people just don’t find their sport."

Jack Whelbourne  - Short Track Speed Skating

Whelbourne is the youngest short-track speed skater competing at the 2010 Games.But the 18-year-old is an old hat when it comes to his sport, as he began speed skating at the age of six.Whelbourne, from Nottingham, is a six-time British Champion in different age groups and he won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championships this year in the 1500m.In his spare time he likes fishing, eating jam and peanut butter sandwiches and reckons he is a decent breakdancer.

Paul Worth  - Short Track Speed Skating

It is no surprise that Worth is a speed skater, as his parents both skated and his mum Alison competed for Britain and is now a coach.Worth started skating at the age of five, has won gold medal at ever age category in the British Championships and has also broken 11 individual British records.He was part of the relay team which won gold at the 2008 World Championships.He studied neuroscience at Nottingham University, supports Manchester United, and his nickname is Dozy.