{"id":521,"date":"2014-10-13T12:51:12","date_gmt":"2014-10-13T12:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/?p=521"},"modified":"2014-10-13T12:52:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-13T12:52:34","slug":"exclusive-interview-with-graham-bell-by-emily-sarsfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/2014\/10\/exclusive-interview-with-graham-bell-by-emily-sarsfield\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Interview with Graham Bell by Emily Sarsfield"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, Voyages-SNCF<\/a>\u00a0celebrated the launch of their new winter fares by\u00a0hosting an exclusive interview with BBC Ski Sunday presenter Graham Bell.<\/p>\n

The added twist was that the interviewer was GB skier cross athlete Emily Sarsfield. \u00a0Chaletline<\/a> was there to bring you the inside track on what they discussed:<\/p>\n

\"graham<\/p>\n

ES: You\u2019ve been to five Olympic Games as an athlete and four as a presenter. What was your favourite? <\/em><\/p>\n

GB: Sochi earlier this year was the best Olympics I\u2019ve been to since I stopped racing. Obviously the highlight was Jenny Jones\u2019 bronze medal. The BBC received 300 complaints about the commentary that day \u2013 and it\u2019s true that Aimee Fuller [Jenny Jones\u2019 teammate and roommate] did get over-excited, I thought Ed (Leigh) and Tim (Warwood) got it right.<\/p>\n

What was the highlight of your racing career?<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, it wasn\u2019t my best result, but best performance was definitely my 12th in the Hannenkahm downhill in Kitzbuhel<\/a> in 1994. That race is the ultimate test.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2026and the lowpoint? <\/em><\/p>\n

The lowest point in my career was definitely seeing Gernot Reinstadler die after a massive crash on the Lauberhorn in Wengen (in 1991).\u00a0 It was a tragic and chilling reminder of how dangerous this sport can be.<\/p>\n

Downhill or skier cross?<\/em><\/p>\n

It has to be downhill, but if skier cross had been invented 10 years earlier I would have seriously considered it.\u00a0 Downhill has lost its way in the last few years.<\/p>\n

\"skier-cross\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When you were on Channel 4\u2019s \u2018The Jump\u2019 did you actually do the jump yourself? <\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, I tried all three jumps myself.\u00a0 There were some demos by local ski jumpers, but they were using specialist skis and boots.\u00a0 I wanted to show the celebrities that it could be done using regular equipment and put them at ease.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And was the most competitive celebrity?<\/em><\/p>\n

Sir Steve Redgrave, without a doubt.\u00a0 He signed up because he wanted to test himself and improve his skiing.\u00a0 He is the most competitive person I’ve ever met for sure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We hear you\u2019ve entered the multi-stage ultra marathon the Marathon des Sables!<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes it\u2019s true.\u00a0 It\u2019s also true that I don’t like running that much and I don\u2019t really like the heat. However, I like to set challenges for myself, particularly since I stopped racing.\u00a0 Plus it\u2019s for a good cause \u2013 Walking With The Wounded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s your funniest moment during your career?<\/em><\/p>\n

I interviewed Franz Klammer once for Ski Sunday and asked him how he felt when I he was standing at the top of the Streif waiting to start in Kitzbuhel: \u201cI tell you Graham, I was absolutely shitting myself!\u2019<\/p>\n

\"franz

franz klammer<\/p><\/div>\n

Do you like travelling by train? <\/em><\/p>\n

Absolutely.\u00a0 I\u2019ve travelled out to the Alps by train many times. I remember when I was about 12, I went out to Murren by train and stayed up too late.\u00a0 A friend and I slept too late and we missed out stop in Basel. We ended up walking up in a siding. It worked out in the end as the Swissrail people sorted everything out for us!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tell us a secret\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Snowboarding is going to be included in \u2018The Jump\u2019 in the new series!<\/p>\n

\"jump\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To get ‘the jump’ on your catered chalet holiday, contact the Chaletline team<\/a> on 01822 617761<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/20141008_192104-190x142.jpg<\/a>

Last week, Voyages-SNCF\u00a0celebrated the launch of their new winter fares by\u00a0hosting an exclusive interview with BBC Ski Sunday presenter Graham Bell. The added twist was that the interviewer was GB skier cross athlete Emily Sarsfield. \u00a0Chaletline was there to bring …<\/p>\n

read more<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,113],"tags":[112,209,270,210,208],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":528,"href":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521\/revisions\/528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chaletline.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}