Ferg on thin ice, reckons Ben

Ben Sandford

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HI BEN. Nice to speak again. The team has been copping a bit of flak back home. Ian Ferguson has been scathing. What does the team make of the criticism?

A: "Very serious question to start of this week. Speaking for myself, I think it is unjustified, misses the point and is ill-informed. I haven't performed as well as I wanted or as well as I could. I can take as much criticism for that as you want. But to criticise a programme, which has only just started, which is only able to partly fund a few of the athletes on this team, is pretty poor.

"There are many athletes here who don't get a cent and have to pay everything themselves. Not one of us is here for a free ride or taking an easy option. I'm probably one of the best-funded yet even then this money only partially pays for five months of my year. If you want better results, fund it properly and over an extended period. I enjoyed reading the comments people have added (online) to the bottom of Ferguson's article. Seems to me like he's taken a bit of a mauling in return! I hope this doesn't have a comments section."

Has the team been drowning its sorrows?

A: "Yeah I've been drinking lots of water, maybe just once or twice some beer magically appeared in what was a glass of water. If I was drinking American beer I could argue that it was water."

You finished 11th. Were you pleased?

A: "No I was really disappointed, I wanted a lot more and didn't perform to a level that I thought was good enough. I wanted to be up there fighting for a medal and I think I am good enough to do that, but last week I just wasn't there. About now I could start listing excuses, but I hate listening to excuses, even my own, so I'm not going to bore you."

What was your most memorable moment at the Games?

A: "I think the thing that will stick with me the longest was being able to compete with family and friends in the grandstands. That was awesome. I have had an amazing amount of support over the last few weeks, and also so much interest in skeleton, which is really weird. I was doing a live radio interview the other day and it was bizarre. Normally in a radio interview I have to start out by describing what skeleton is which for radio I always find really difficult. But this never came up instead they were asking me about corner 11, corner 16. It blew me away that not only did they know what skeleton was but that I was now talking about the specifics of the track and driving lines".

They were just showing off, mate. That's radio for ya. Now the Games are over, any dirt you can dish. Any scandal?

A: "What is this the gossip column or the sports section? I'm really boring. I've got absolutely no good stories about me or anyone I know, which now I think about it is pretty unusual. And if there is something funny you'll have to wait for the book."

We hear Mitchey Greig can party. Did she or the snowboarders finally go ballistic?

A: "Oh I'm sure she can, Mitchey is a whole lot of fun, but again I have nothing terribly exciting to report on either her or the snowboarders. Every time I've seen them they've just been very relaxed. But I must say, Vancouver and Whistler are absolutely packed, and if you want to have a good time, I don't think it would be to hard to find. The place will go crazy if Canada wins the hockey on Sunday."

Where to now for Ben Sandford? When are you next in New Zealand?

A: "After the Olympics, I'm heading back to Europe for a while and will be back in New Zealand by the middle of April, just in time for the SST to give me a permanent column. I will carry on to the next Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Next season, I'd like to spend a lot of time training and less time racing, develop some equipment with my team-mate Iain, and I also need to work on some of my sliding skills, which I think are lacking at the moment. Need to find out hopefully sooner than later if the winter programme is going to continue and in what form, if I still have sponsors etc. The usual stuff ... begging for money to keep the dream alive, and win that elusive winter gold!"

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