Kristan Bromley and Shelley Rudman

Kristan: It's been four long years since the last Winter Olympics in Turin but now, finally, the wait is almost over. The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games are almost upon us, with the Olympic bobsleigh track up in Whistler, which is like staging the football world cup in Brazil. Winter sports are all Canadians care about and going there and winning would be, in our sport, the equivalent of winning the world cup at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Turin seems a lifetime ago and so much has happened since then. Back then, of course, Shelley my partner and now fiancée and mother of our baby daughter, Ella, won the silver medal and collected it while I was finishing fifth. It was a strange mixture of emotions. I was at rock bottom to be out of the medals, especially as I came to the Italian Alps hoping to claim gold. At the same time I was elated for Shelley, who was on cloud nine. Her success definitely helped me overcome my own disappointment. It also highlighted the narrow margins in bob skeleton. I can go to Vancouver and win, or I can finish tenth. We're talking about tiny differences in times here.

Since Turin we've had Ella, of course, and she travels everywhere with us. Some people may think this is a distraction. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ella is our little stress-buster. She gives me a hug and immediately takes away any problems. She can say hello in four different languages, which isn't bad for a toddler aged 2 years and 4 months, and the first time she ever went ice skating the other day she took to it like the proverbial duck to (unfrozen) water. Contrary to popular belief the British government haven't asked us to produce a wonder athlete for the 2030 Winter Olympics, although she's good genes. I've heard Shelley and me described as the "Posh and Becks" of bob skeleton, which always makes me laugh, and now that we have Ella I suppose we're the (very) poor people's version of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf with their kids. If they don't have the ingredients to become good tennis players, nobody will. Actually I'd prefer Ella to become an ice skater because she looks like she has some talent there and there's more money in it. Still, like me, she's into winter sports at an early age. A few years ago I unearthed a drawing I'd scribbled as a four year old boy back home in Rossendale, Lancashire. It depicted a large bobsleigh with people waving out of its windows. I've no idea how the bob had captured my imagination aged four, but the idea of sliding down ice tracks has stayed with me ever since. Later on in life I gained a Phd in materials engineering after writing a thesis entitled "Factors Affecting the Performance in Skeleton Bobsleigh." When the media found this out I was immediately dubbed "Dr Ice."

We're based in Sheffield now, having moved from Bath after Turin, and Shelley and I have been working hard since 2006 looking to improve all aspects of our performance with the help of my company, Bromley Technologies Ltd.

Becoming world champion and world cup overall champion in 2008 eased the pain of Turin, but not enough to be desperate to give it another good go in Canada. Win, medal or miss out, I know I've done everything possible. This time I'd like both Shelley and me to experience an incredible high of success at the Winter Games. It's certainly a possibility, that's for sure.

Shelley: The first sign that I'd end up doing what I do was when I was aged just five and I went tobogganing with my Dad and my dog on the hills around the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, where I grew up. The dog, incidentally, sat on the sledge, just in case you're thinking we got him to pull us! 22 years' later and I'm just as hooked as ever. The Turin Winter Games was a very strange experience. I came to them knowing I stood a chance of doing something, but only on the basis that anyone in the top ten has that chance. Then it all came together in the practice runs and then for real. I received my silver medal just as Kristan was competing, and so obviously his disappointment was a shared one. I'm really hoping this time we both win medals in Whistler, although anything can happen.

Since then we've both really gone for it. Yes, I've had some extra dimensions to my life, notably Ella. People can't work out how I endanger life and limb hurtling down bobsleigh tracks at 80 mph as a mother, nor how I can focus with Ella around. My reply to this is that bob skeleton is an extreme sport, not a particularly dangerous one, while Ella is a very welcome distraction because it means I can switch off from bob skeleton as well. Not having her around us would be the distraction, believe me. I'd like to think when she's older she'll think it's cool to have two parents who do what we do for a living.
There's been a few other changes, too, as a result of my silver medal. I went to a few functions, like the premiere of Basic Instinct 2, had a few glossy magazine photo shoots and got to wear a few nice dresses. And there's been some much-needed lottery funding that has made our lives a little easier. In Pewsey when I go back I get recognised quite a bit on the basis that there aren't too many girls from the town with an Olympic silver medal, but it's not especially the case elsewhere.

Since Turin, despite becoming parents, Kristan and I have not left a stone unturned in our determination to improve in terms of technology, sports psychology and nutrition. I've had the best year yet as far as preparation and performance goes and I'm going to Whistler confident knowing that I'm in with a shout if I get two good runs under my belt. The track at Whistler is considerably faster and steeper than anywhere else so hold on to your hats - or helmets! At the Olympics Kristan and I will mainly go into "athlete mode." By this I mean we can't be too much of a loving partnership as we both have major goals to aim for. I'd love to have Kristan's world and world cup titles, and he'd love my Olympic medal. But I'm sure at one point up at Whistler one will turn to the other and ask: "Who's got the house keys?"