WHILE Ireland’s Winter Olympic hopeful Florence Bell will proudly wave the Irish flag in Sochi next week the moment will be a little bitter sweet.
The Birmingham schoolgirl skier may be the envy of teenagers nationwide keen to miss a few weeks of lessons but her success has come at a price.
Florence won her place at the expense of her older sister Victoria, who also competed for Ireland’s only slalom spot.
“It’s bitter sweet,” Florence’s mum Jane told The Irish Post. “She is thrilled and excited, very pleased, but there is a little tinge of sadness behind it that Victoria isn’t going. They are each other’s best friend.”
Florence has also spoken of her sister’s disappointment at failing to secure a spot at the Games.
"Obviously she was trying to be happy for me but she was really upset," she said.
"We've been racing against each other on the international circuit for the last three years. Sometimes she wins and sometimes I do. It can literally be just hundredths of a second between us, it's that close."
Florence followed in the footsteps of her older sister in declaring for Ireland after skiing for Britain until 2009, and according to Jane the decision was a welcome one.
“The Irish were very supportive and keen on them doing the Olympic Games, the criteria in the British system for sending them to Olympics is extraordinarily difficult,” she said.
“We’re very pleased we went down the Irish root because she is getting this opportunity to go. But I think she’d like a bit of female company,” she joked.
Earlier this week Florence was named as the only woman in the five-strong Winter Olympics team that will be representing Ireland in Russia.
At 17 she is also one of the youngest members and still at school, which led to an amusing incident when dad Brian received a text to ask why she was not in class.
Luckily the Co. Armagh native saw the funny side as the school principal had already authorised Florence’s leave to attend the team unveiling in Dublin.
“I really can’t believe it to be honest,” mum Jane added. “I’ve got a child going to the Olympic Games. It sounds ridiculous to me. I’m unbelievably proud.”
