Skeleton in Cambridge’s Closet

Last week, Great Britain's Amy Williams won the women's skeleton gold medal at the Whistler Sliding Centre, becoming the first individual gold medallist since Robin Cousins in 1980.

Amy was born and bred in Cambridge, although she went to Uni in Bath.

It was there that she first tried the sport "for a bet". She soon became increasingly attached to her sled, which she has nicknamed "Arthur". 

Her victory is amazing considering the fact that she was forced to train on concrete, which is incredibly slow compared to the icy tracks her rivals use.

Her success in Vancouver, where competitors travel at velocities of up to 90mph, is therefore all the more awe-inspiring. ?

In Cambridge, Williams' birthplace, there was plenty of drinking, dancing and celebrating.

Signs of congratulations, handshakes and hugs could be seen all around and proposals were heard on the BBC.??

"Marry me Amy, I'm single and I am lonely!" said an anonymous, intoxicated first-year student at Cambridge University's Lucy Cavendish College. "I may be a woman, but I believe in equal rights!"??

"I will sell everything for your hand!" exclaimed a similarly drunken Peterhouse undergraduate. "I'm serious.  Even my dignity! My dignity!"??

"I have a number here, cameras, zoom in on it," demanded a third interested suitor at the pub from Darwin college. "Mr. and Mrs. Williams, please write it down, I want to pay a visit to your daughter!"

“I just want to say that Amy has given me the strength to carry on”, claimed Greg Styger, from Sidney Sussex, when approached, “when life gets you down you can just look at people like Amy to get you up again”. ??

Williams, whose friends call her Curly Wurly, is the first female individual Winter Olympic gold medallist from Great Britain since Jeannette Altwegg won it in figure skating during the 1952 Oslo Games.