The British four-man bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics in Turin, which opens today, will have an all-military crew, comprising three Royal Marines and an RAF airman. Eight members of the forty-strong British squad selected to take part in the 2006 Games are members of the Armed Forces.

The two-man bob will be driven by Royal Marine Lee Johnston with RAF Senior Aircraftman, Dan Humphries operating the brakes. Lee’s brother, Captain Karl Johnston and Marine Martin Wright, both also Royal Marines, join them in the four-man sled.

The Army provides half of the two-women’s sled in Corporal Jackie Davies. A year ago Jackie and partner Nicola Minichiello became the first British women to win a bobsleigh medal when they finished second at the World Championships in Calgary, Canada, in February 2005.