Winter Olympics: Brit Watch Day 3

Britwatch / Dan Fitch / 15 February 2010 / Leave a comment

Sadly destined to never take their place in light entertainment history.

Another day of exhilarating physical competition in freezing temperatures awaits and Dan 'The Betting Man' Fitch is on hand with the Brits to watch out for.

If ITV decided to launch a pro-celebrity cross-country skiing show, on the back of the popularity of Dancing On Ice, it would probably be titled ‘Walking On Skis’.

If you had to name the one winter sport that has the largest amount of active participants in Britain, then it would surely be ice-skating.

The trouble is that most of these 'participants' do very little else but endlessly go round in circles around the rink, whilst holding onto each other for dear life. Unfortunately there is no Olympic event that can make the most of this growing skill set.

We even like to watch ice-skating on television. Not the top level athletes obviously. Why would we be interested in them when they've never even made an appearance in The Bill?

Sadly, Dancing On Ice will have pulled in far more viewers over the weekend than the Winter Olympics Pairs Ice Skating. Even sadder is the fact that the names of Kemp & King are unlikely to be replacing Torvill & Dean on the show any time soon (unless of course the producers are able to sign up Ross Kemp and Claire King).

The British combo of Stacey Kemp and David King are currently in 16th place and need a miracle to get amongst the medals later today. When there's more liquidity in the market, expect them to be priced at around [100.0] to take gold. We should have sent Todd Carty.

The Men's Downhill Alpine Skiing takes place today, two days after it was scheduled, after being postponed due to rain, which in Winter Olympics circles is rather ironically known as 'bad weather'. For these madcap characters, a spot of pleasantly mild sunshine is akin to a tornado.

Anyway, Ed Drake will be representing Britain in the event and as he is competing in five events in total, his schedule is now more crowded than that of a Sugababe.

If ITV decided to launch a pro-celebrity cross-country skiing show, on the back of the popularity of Dancing On Ice, it would probably be titled 'Walking On Skis'.

Of course, there's far more to cross-country skiing than that and the show would be more accurately titled 'Walking On Skis Over Really Long Distances'.

The Men's 15km Free takes place today, with British hopes resting on the young shoulders of 19-year old Andrew Musgrave and the 17-year old, aptly named, Andrew Young. I'm all for investing in the future, but 15km in the snow is one arduous paper round.

We've also gone for a youth policy in the Ladies 10km Free, where 19-year old Fiona Hughes competes for Britain. You've heard it here first Brit Watch fans. Forget rave culture and stabbing each other. For the kids of today, life begins and ends with cross-country skiing.

Tags: andrew musgrave, andrew young, ed drake, kemp and king, vancouver betting, winter olympics betting