The Lake Placid 1980 figure skating gold medallist urged British athletes heading to next month's Games to use the "extra attention" to their advantage and dismissed suggestions the success of their summer Olympic counterparts brings more pressure.

"No it shouldn't," said Cousins, who will be combining his Team GB Ambassador role with his media work as a co-commentator for the figure skating events in Sochi.

"What athletes have to remember is that people are interested in you being good.

"That is a nice thing.

"Everybody's favourite word is their own name and we all love being told we are good

"We just have to acknowledge that and think, 'God there are 5,000 people in that arena and they want to see me skate and there are millions tuning in at home to watch.

"You have to use that to your advantage and you can't panic because of it.

"The attention is a great thing and the fact that London 2012 has propelled into Sochi 2014 is a fantastic thing.

"The athletes need that attention and they deserve that attention and now it's their chance to use that attention and if they do their job properly they will be supported."

Fresh from European bronze last week, Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland will head to Sochi full of confidence ©Getty Images















































Cousins was speaking here today at Adidas UK offices in Stockport, where the official Team GB Sochi 2014 kit was launched.

Among the athletes getting kitted out were figure skaters Nick Buckland and Penny Coomes.

Cousins is confident the British pair can build on their bronze medal success at the European Championships in Budapest last week, but suggested next month's Games may just be coming a bit too soon for the pair, considering Buckland has just come back from minor heart surgery in October.

"Because of the injuries and the surgery [to Buckland] I thought that they would have to kiss Sochi goodbye," said Cousins.

"This isn't their year, that will be in four years time [Pyeongchang 2018] and that's where they will be focussed.

"But the bronze last week was so secure and such a strong performance and they know they can do even better."

Buckland and Coomes will be appearing at their second Winter Olympics in Sochi, following their their 20th place finish at Vancouver 2010 and will be looking to deliver a first figure skating medal for Britain since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won bronze at Lillehammer 1994.

Torvill and Dean were the last figure skaters to clinch Olympic gold for Britain when they took the title at Sarajevo 1984.

The duo were part of a "magical few years" for British figure skating, according to Cousins, whose 1980 gold medal followed on from an Olympic title for John Curry at Innsbruck 1976.

Robin Cousins won Olympic gold at Lake Placid in 1980 ©AFP/Getty Images

































Cousins, who also won gold at the 1980 European Championships, believes while Britain's medal haul at Winter Olympics has been sparse compared to summer Games, success cannot be solely measured on the medal table.

Amy Williams was the sole British medallist last time out at Vancouver 2010, taking gold in the skeleton, while teammate Shelley Rudman had taken silver in the same event four years earlier in Turin.

"I don't think it is necessarily unfair to judge success of Olympics on home success because there are people out there who see it that way," he said.

"But, I think we as a nation love people who go out there and put their heart and soul into it and sometimes it just didn't quite work for no other reason than it didn't quite work.

"We are not going to have any athlete go out there and say, 'Well I'm not ready for this'.

"They will all have done the best that they can and to the best of their ability.

"We have some people who are really strong in their sports at the moment and what you want to do is for them to do what they do in their day job on the biggest stage of all."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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