SKELETON BOB: Andy Cryer meets Shelley Rudman, the Pewsey ice queen competing in the Winter Olympics just four years after taking up skeleton bob.

NOT since Bill Amor ran down the wing for England's football team in the summer of 1948 have the villagers from Pewsey looked forward to an Olympic Games with such fervour.

Ice queen Shelley Rudman, 24, will be the first Olympian from the South Wiltshire village, since Amor's appearance in London when she competes in the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, later this month.

Racing down the ice, head first at 90mph may not seem an ideal way to get yourself from A to B, but for skeleton bobsleigher Rudman it has been her life for the past four years.

The Devizes School classroom teacher has enjoyed a herculean rise to the top, now ranked fifth in the world, but ahead of her Italian job she is remaining cool about any medal chances.

"This is all a learning curve," she said. "My priority is to go there and enjoy it as it is my first Games and I don't feel as though there is any pressure.

"It is amazing really as I was only introduced to the sport four years ago by a couple of friends.

"I enjoyed going on the push track at Bath University and it has all gone from there.

"It is crazy. My goal was always the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 and so I am really four years ahead of schedule. It feels really, really wierd but very enjoyable."

As well as having her own performance to worry about, Rudman will have half an eye on her Colerne-based boyfriend and British no 1 bobsleigher Kristan Bromley, who travels to Turin focused on silverware.

Rudman said: "It will be pretty nerve-wracking watching Kristan compete.

"He competes the day after me and I will probably be more nervous for him than myself.

"I try not to get nervous. I perform my best when I am relaxed and so I find it very important that I go into my run with the right attitude.

"I probably get the most nervous in between my runs. Competing at random tracks makes the nerves worse but that doesn't really happen any more as I have competed at most of the tracks now."

At first glance, skeleton bobsleigh seems to just be a white-knuckle ride down an icy hill as fast as you can, but as Rudman explains there is more to the sport than first appears.

She said: "My sled weighs 32kg and costs about £3,000. It is one expensive piece of equipment.

"You should have a lot of control over it and if you don't you will find yourself in a lot of trouble.

"To get to the real top I probably need to find an extra five per cent somewhere and it will probably be my hardest challenge yet. Just a slight glance either way can ruin your run."

Rudman is due to arrive in Turin today, via a Team GB holding camp, and starts her Olympic campaign on February 16.

The top 20 athletes from the first run will progress to a second run, where the medals will get sorted out.