Emotional Jones collects bronze and earns place in history

Jenny Jones hopes her snowboarding bronze medal will inspire Great Britain to their most successful ever Winter Olympic campaign in Sochi.

Jones became Team GB's first-ever medallist on snow when she claimed third in the slopestyle event at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park - and now wants others to follow, with genuine medal chances in freestyle skiing, bobsleigh, skeleton, short track speed skating and curling still to come.

Indeed the 33-year old's second day medal started Britain's tally here even quicker than Lizzie Armitstead did at London 2012 when she won road race silver.

"I really hope that getting the bronze medal has pumped a few people up," said Jones.

"I know the freestyle skiing girls were stoked and were all smiles and screams. In the next few days I'm looking forward to supporting those guys.

"I'm really excited to see Woodsy and Katie Summerhayes in the ski version of my event. Hopefully it's game on for them now."

Jones didn't know her mother and father, Helen and Peter, were watching from the stands, leading to an emotional meeting as she collected her medal.

And she admitted earning a place in history - Gina Hathorn's slalom fourth in 1968 was Britain's previous best Olympic performance on snow - made it extra special.

"Once I told them I'd been selected, they asked me how I'd feel if they came to watch," she added.

"I said it would be great but I didn't want to know, so they kept things quite quiet and it was great to see them.

"The last few hours has been full of lots of emotions. Walking out on the podium was a fantastic experience.

"I never thought that I'd be in this position when I was a chalet maid. I was cooking breakfasts and cleaning toilets and just snowboarding every day and having fun. At the beginning it was just about snowboarding and enjoying your sport.

"It's still sinking in the history part. Hopefully I'll be in a few pub quizzes now."

Team GB chef de mission Mike Hay also hopes the bronze will start a medal rush in Sochi.

“This is a fantastic accomplishment for Jenny and a great moment for our entire delegation," he said.

"Jenny will go down in the record books as the first-ever member of Team GB to win an Olympic medal in a snow sport.

"There is a strong spirit of camaraderie and support across our entire delegation, and I know every member of Team GB is proud of Jenny and delighted to see her have this special moment.”

© Sportsbeat 2014