Winter Olympics 2022: Skeleton sorcery, Agent Jakobsen and the bickering curling couple – Beijing diary

JEALOUS RIVALS EYE TEAM GB'S APPLIANCE OF SCIENCE British Olympic officials insist they are playing by the rules as they prepare to unveil the top secret hi-tech hacks they hope will score more medals in the mountains. Ad/> British Skeleton have been working with performance innovation specialists at the English Institute of Sport to seek the 'marginal gains' needed in a sport where fractions matter.

Beijing 2022Tongan flag bearer misses Olympics to focus on disaster response after volcano eruption3 HOURS AGO Training started in Yanqing yesterday with furtive and jealous glances from rivals as the wrappers were peeled off new kit. Skeleton has become Britain's national winter sport with seven medals at the last five Games, including three golds, and the appliance of science has been at the heart of that success.

«We are 100 per cent playing by the rules all the time,» insisted British Skeleton's performance director Natalie Dunman. «We’ve already been checked with the jury, so we are absolutely certain on the kit that it is on the money and there will be no challenge, we read the rule book very carefully.

»We’re really lucky in that in the UK we benefit from a system that has a really good sports tech element to it. We always keep a little surprise in store so there will be some new bits that you will see with the sleds and suits.

«I think everybody uses their own advantage. We don’t have a track so we are very much up against it when it comes to competing against everybody else.» SWEPT UNDER THE CARPET Who needs marriage counselling when there’s mixed doubles curling? Norwegian sweeping sweethearts Kristin Moen Skaslien and Magnus Nedregotten set new standards in marital communication and haven’t held back on the