The last time Montell Douglas competed at a Beijing Olympics was the summer Brits were dancing to the debut single by an unknown pop hopeful named Katy Perry.
A few months later, a young Illinois senator would become the first black president of the United States, and everyone was still wrapping their heads around a two-year-old social media platform called Twitter.
Also, it was a lot warmer. In 2008, Douglas represented Great Britain in athletics; now she’s barrelling down ice at breakneck speed as the brakewoman for bobsleigh pilot Mica McNeill—making her the first woman in British history to compete in a summer and winter Games.
“It feels incredible,” she said. “It’s very overwhelming but it’s bizarre because I’ve actually worked towards that main goal.
“Part of me staying in the sport and working for the last four years was to work towards that goal. It’s a bit weird, when you get it it’s more of a relief.
“Like, ok, that’s done but you’ve still got a job to do, you’ve still got performance to think about.
“But I’m just happy that the girls have finally joined the men, because there’s been many Olympians on the men’s side in two different sports and not on the female [side], so it’s just incredible. I’m extremely honoured.”
The 36-year-old Londoner grew up hoping to become an air hostess, loving the idea of “pointing down where the exits were and doing the demonstration.” It was a dream fuelled by a desire to see the world.
She’d get there, but by flying with her own feet. Douglas started sprinting at age 13 and by 16 had joined a training group where she found a ready mentor and “idol” in then three-time Olympian Donna Fraser.
And on July 17 2008, just before making her Olympic debut, Douglas smashed Kathy Cook’s 27-year-old 100m record, clocking 11.05.
A month later she was in Beijing, debuting in the same Games Fraser made her curtain call. Douglas placed second in her heat in 11.36 but was eliminated in the next round, and was also part of the 4x100m relay team who reached the final.
Eight years later, she joined British Bobsleigh and travelled to PyeongChang as the reserve brakewoman in 2018.
Observing an Olympics, she insisted, was not as difficult as one might assume.
“I’d started bobsleigh the year before,” recalled Douglas. “Your mindset is ‘I’m going to the winter Games’.
“You’re not thinking, ‘oh my gosh, I’m not competing.’ You’re thinking, ‘I’m at the Olympic Games’, and you experience it with everyone else. It was incredible.
“And for me having been to the summer Games, when I went, there was about 70 of us in just athletics alone, whereas when I went to the winter Games there were about 70 of us in the whole of Team GB. So it was just a completely different experience.
“But all of that on board created my experience. And it just fuels you, to be honest, because you get to experience things that not many people do.
“And you’re in a very small percentile. You have to embrace that, your achievements, like, wow. And just take stock of where you are in that moment.”
McNeill and PyeongChang brakewoman Mica Moore finished a British-best eighth in 2018—a result the new two-woman pairing hopes to better in Beijing.
“It’s been a whirlwind just even getting here,” admitted Douglas.
“Now we can move on and prepare. Last time getting British history in eighth place, anything better than that would be British history again.
“We would be lying if we said that we wouldn’t want to do that and move it on. But at the end of the day, results are never controllable.
“You do your best. As long as you know you’re doing your best and that’s what we’ve put down. Whatever we get, I’m hoping and praying that we’ll be proud.”
With bobsleigh often the second stop on the squad’s sporting careers, training is tailored to each athlete’s own physique and unique needs. Douglas’s own regime is one of equilibrium, balancing running with weights and the physical with the spiritual.
Much has changed since 2008, but Douglas’ faith has not. It’s what guides her in this latest Olympic chapter—six Katy Perry albums later.
“I’m going to do what I can do,” she added. “But I’m also going to have that unwavering faith as much as I can, to say I’m going to put in what I can and what will be will be.
“I’m blessed to be around amazing team-mates, the squad, my friends and family, the sponsors. I’m blessed to be in that pool where I’ve got beautiful people around me that push me every day.”
Sportsbeat 2022