Amy Williams’ golden moment came at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She believes that scientific advances over the last 16 years have made winter sports safer.

In the years since I’ve stopped competing, it’s been great to see the culture around injuries – and specifically head injuries – changing. When I was training, we weren’t checked for concussion after a big hit; we’d still be back on the track the next day. At the end of a season – when the ice is really broken up and the skeleton is almost vibrating – it’s not great on your neck and your head. I probably picked up concussions unknowingly during my career.

Now in skeleton, if you take a big hit you are monitored for concussion. The athlete will undergo a series of tests – like they do in rugby – and you’re not allowed to compete for a set number of days or weeks. The knowledge around concussions and head injuries is, encouragingly, so much greater now than it was in my era.

People are much more aware of it now. The ability to test your muscles, tears or strains or pulls – everything has just got way better than before. Ultimately, that’s great for the longevity of athletes.

Your sport is your life

I spent most of February working as a TV analyst for the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina. I enjoyed covering the Games so much – it transports me back to my old athlete life and it’s always nice to rekindle those memories.

Whilst it wasn’t my first time in the analyst’s chair, it did mark the first time I’ve cried during a live broadcast. It was all Matt Weston’s fault. After he won gold for Great Britain in the bob skeleton, his face crumpled, the tears came – and so did mine. It took me back to my own golden moment in Vancouver in 2010.

I’ve known Matt and the group of athletes who were competing since they started and have mentored them a bit over the years. When you watch the emotion on the face of a gold-medal winner, you think ‘that was me once’. Then you see the coach hug him and you remember your coach who hugged you. It’s a moment in your life that never disappears.

This year’s Winter Olympics seemed to capture the public’s imagination more than ever before – especially as all the events were taking place in the same time zone.  And year on year, the profiles of the athletes is growing on social media and people are coming to know the sports more. It was also Team GB’s most successful Games ever, with three gold medals and five in total.

There were so many stories that came from these Games – and many caught the headlines.  

Undoubtedly, the Winter Olympics always bring some drama. Lindsey Vonn’s dramatic crash – she competed after rupturing her ACL nine days before – became global news.

Mikaela Shiffrin’s injury story was amazing. She came back from a long-term injury to win her third gold in the slalom.

Any athlete will relate to their grit and determination to compete. Your sport is your life.

But winter sports are extreme and dangerous.

The half pipers are four or five metres in the air and land on hard ice, so when it goes wrong, it goes absolutely wrong. But you can’t let fear of injury be part of your psychology.

Often before their runs, you see the half pipers twisting their bodies, the skiers and skeletons doing the same. A lot of the preparation is on mental imagery – you’re completely within your body and mind in those moments. Injury is not a concern.   

Strengthened by new evidence

As an athlete, it is amazing to feel that science has your back.

I know that The Podium Institute at the University of Oxford is involved in a study to develop a type of instrumented mouthguard, which will make it possible to monitor all phases of injury from initial fall to the last impact.

The aim of the study is to enable the development of improved helmets and other protective equipment that is specifically designed to mitigate head injury in skiing and snowboarding. That will only make our sport safter for future generations. Hopefully that will then lead to higher participation levels and, at the elite level, more unforgettable moments like Matt’s this year.