The squad Rutherford was part of failed to achieve the required three top-12 World Cup finishes this season; Montell Douglas set to become the first female athlete to represent Britain at Summer and Winter Games in separate sports after being selected as brake in the two-woman bob
Thursday 20 January 2022 17:51, UK
Former Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford's hopes of adding a winter Games medal to his London 2012 gold were dashed on Thursday after he failed to make the cut for Britain's bobsleigh squad for Beijing.
Sprinter Montell Douglas, who competed at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, was selected, however, as brake in the two-woman bob piloted by Mica McNeill.
She will be the first female athlete to represent Britain at Summer and Winter Games in separate sports.
Rutherford, 35, made his international bobsleigh debut under pilot Lamin Deen at a World Cup race in Winterburg, Germany as part of a four-man team, finishing 17th out of 21.
Deen's squad failed to achieve three top-12 finishes in the World Cup season, however, missing out on qualification for the Games.
Rutherford, who also won Olympic long jump bronze in Rio, was looking to become the seventh athlete to win a medal at a Summer and Winter Games after Eddie Eagan, Jacob Tullin Thams, Christa Luding-Rothenburger, Clara Hughes, Lauryn Williams and Eddy Alvarez.
Douglas, 35, reached the final of the 4x100m relay at Beijing 2008 and took up bobsleigh in 2016.
The only other woman to compete for Britain in Winter and Summer Games was Ethel Muckelt in figure skating, which featured in the Summer Olympics in 1908 and 1920 and then the Winter Games from 1924.
The Beijing Winter Olympics begin on February 4.
Brad Hall will lead Britain's only four-man bobsleigh team at the Games, where they will be strong contenders to win a medal, coming off the back of a World Cup season that saw them claim three podiums and place fourth in the overall standings.
Speaking to Sky Sports News on Thursday after the team selections were confirmed, Hall explained how he believes the unknown nature of the Olympic track can work to Team GB's advantage.
"Throughout the whole season we've been consistently in the top six and most of these are on tracks that are in Europe, which the Germans and most of the Europeans are very good on as well," Hall said.
"When it comes to an Olympic track, it's a brand new track that no one knows how to drive, and I fancy my chances as a driver to learn a track faster than most people.
"I proved that with a silver medal at the Olympic test event and we're looking to replicate that in a few weeks' time."
Despite having failed to claim top spot on the podium during the World Cup season, Hall is confident rival sleds are taking notice of the British team.
"They're all a bit afraid to have another team that's challenging for the medals," he said.
"You can see a lot of people, they've all got eyes on our sled trying to see what runners, what equipment we've got, what lines we're taking down the track.
"So when you start to see people noticing you and taking notes of what you're doing and filming you down the track, you know that you're doing something right and that people are starting to get worried about what you can achieve."
