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Thursday, 14 February, 2002, 04:10 GMT
Green's golden run
BBC Sport Online's Anna Thompson carves up a conversation with British combined skier Ross Green
Not bad for a butcher's boy!
Britain's best Olympic skiing result in a decade came courtesy of Ross Green, who is a butcher's assistant in the summer months.
He finished 15th in the men's combined, a downhill and two slalom runs, and surprised himself - and his parents.
Green told BBC Sport Online: "My parents were keeping an eye on my progress at home in Scotland on the internet and thought there was an error in the results when it said I had finished 15th!
"They had to wait to watch the highlights on television before they believed the results were true.
Green, a 24-year-old from Falkirk, had never even taken part in a World Cup race before - let alone the Olympics.
After training runs he was ranked 35th in the downhill and 32nd in the slalom.
He was disappointed with his downhill - where he was 1.5 seconds off his training times.
Green said: "It was really windy and a little bit unfair. I don't think I was the luckiest guy out there in those conditions and wasn't very happy after the downhill."
Green has been concentrating on the speed events and has hardly skied a slalom in the last couple of years.
His only other slalom this season was in the British Championships.
"But my first slalom run felt great and suddenly I was having fun.
"I have never performed on this big a stage.
"You can't hear the crowd when you race downhill, but the roar as I approached the end of the slalom was amazing.
"I've got absolutely no idea why I performed so well in the slalom. I'm baffled but equally delighted with today's result - not bad for a butcher's boy.
"I feel that my form is coming together at exactly the right time."
Green is now set to compete in the giant slalom on 21 February - but joked his coach could enter him for the slalom after this performance.
He added: "I gave up slalom a couple of years ago and I don't think I will want to go back to concentrating on that, even after this result."
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