As the chaos caused by the recent cold snap proved, we Brits don't really cope with the snow and ice too well. But 52 athletes representing Team GB head to Vancouver for the Winter Olympics, and UK Sport has set the British team a target of three medals, something not seen since 1936.
Britain's most successful Winter Olympics was at the first event, held in Chamonix in 1924, where Brits picked up gold, silver and two bronze medals, and four years ago a single silver medal was the total haul. After the stunning gold rush Britain enjoyed in Beijing at the Summer Games in 2008, perhaps we have become too blasé about winning medals, but remember when you stayed up to watch Rhona Martin and co win curling gold in Salt Lake City in 2002, in a sport you didn't even know existed until a week previously?
Ahead of the Games which kicks off on Friday, we take a look at Britain's best hopes for a medal.
Shelley Rudman - Skeleton
'Extreme, technical and exhilarating.' That is how Olympic silver medallist Shelley Rudman describes her sport. Otherwise known as hurtling down a sheet of ice head first on a tea tray at speeds of up to 140kph, the skeleton bob is one of Britain's strongest sports.
Since the sport was reintroduced at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City, Britain has medalled at every games, and this year should be no different. Rudman leads a four-strong team of Amy Williams, Adam Pengilly and her husband Kristan Bromley to Vancouver in the hunt for medals. A surprise package four years ago, Rudman is now ranked second in the world and will be Britain's top hope for a medal, and she knows the pressure is on.
"I'm a different animal this time around," she said. "After 18 months out of the sport to have my little girl I came back and we have spent a lot of time and effort on the things that really worked well in Turin and the things we could still improve on. But no matter whether you are the favourite or the underdog, the Olympic Games are unique and you can never tell what is going to happen." Medal chances: 9/10
Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke - Bobsleigh
Not many husband and wife partnerships can boast the success of Toni and Nicola Minichiello. While Toni coaches world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis, former heptathlete Nicola made history when she and Cooke won Britain's first bobsled gold medal in 44 years when they won gold at the 2009 World Championships in Lake Placid. Their story is unique - Minichiello recruited former long jumper Cooke on Facebook, and the rest, as they say, is history. Cooke is perhaps better known for her recent YouTube fame when her race suit split to reveal her buttocks, but she took it all in good heart, saying she'd do it every time if it made them go faster. It's Formula One on ice, as Minichiello calls it, and let's hope the reigning world champions can deliver a Michael Schumacher-like performance. Medal chances: 9/10
Chemmy Alcott - Skiing
"In Chemmy Alcott we have an athlete who is proven to be world class," says former downhill skier Konrad Bartelski. Alcott will be competing in her third Games in Vancouver, where she will be an outside hope for a medal in an event dominated by the Americans, Austrians and Germans. Alcott made her Olympic debut as a teenager in Salt Lake City in 2002, she finished 14th in the combined event. Then, four years ago in Turin she was an outside chance for a medal, but finished 11th in the downhill: the best Olympic performance by a British female skiier since 1968. After being disqualified from the combined event after her skis were found to be 0.2mm narrower than regulation, she will be determined to put things right. Medal chances: 6/10
Men's Curling team
Who can forget the excitement Rhona Martin and her team caused when they won curling gold in 2002? Millions of us stayed up to watch the sport we'd never even heard of two weeks previously. It's now time for the men to take the spotlight - skip David Murdoch leads Ewan MacDonald, Peter Smith, Euan Byers and Graeme Connal as they look to emulate the heroics of the Fab Four eight years ago. The reigning world champions are the favourites for gold as they look to avenge their defeat in the bronze medal match four years ago at the hands of world silver medallists and hosts Canada. Medal chances: 8/10
Zoe Gillings - Snowboard
Competing in her second Winter Olympics, 24-year-old Gillings is ranked fifth in the world in the snowboard cross event. She finished a credible 15th in Turin in 2006, and 11th at the world championships last year, but even among the distractions of the collapse of Snowsport GB, Gillings has an outside chance of a medal in Vancouver. Medal chances: 7/10
Figure Skating
Scottish siblings John and Sinead Kerr travel to Vancouver looking to become Britain's first Olympic figure skating medal since Torvill and Dean's bronze at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. They finished 12th in Turin four years ago without any funding. Since enjoying financial support from UK Sport, the pair have won bronze at the 2009 European Championships. They are now ranked fifth in the world, but they will have to pull off the performance of their lives if they are to medal in Vancouver. Medal chances: 7/10
Speed Skating
Great Britain's speed skaters Jon Eley and Elise Christie will be outside hopes for a medal in Vancouver after they both enjoyed a successful European Championships in Germany last month. Christie won two silver medals in the 1500m and 3000m and won bronze in the overall event, while Eley took silver in the men's 500m and the British men won bronze in the 5000m relay. Medal chances: 5/10
Ben Kilner - Snowboard halfpipe
Until last week, Kilner was ranked 99th in the world, and the 21-year-old remains a long-shot for glory, but he has come into the form of his life, picking up a bronze medal at the World Cup halfpipe in Calgary. Although a number of the big names were absent from the event, Kilner could maybe, just maybe, pull off the shock of the century. Medal chances: 1/10
Jo Carter is assistant editor of ESPN.co.uk
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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