Great Britain's Winter Olympics Hall of Fame - 6-10

WHO are the greatest British Winter Olympians of all time? Here's the case for a cast that includes a plasterer from Gloucester and an office clerk and copper from Nottingham, plus a Lord and an Earl.

CAPTAIN MARVEL: Carl Erhardt (top row, second from right) pictured with team-mates from Streatham. He captained Great Britain to a surprise ice hockey gold in 1936.

6. GREAT BRITAIN ICE HOCKEY TEAM, GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN 1936

The majority of the team that shocked the ice hockey world by winning gold in 1936 were Canadians of British heritage.

However, captain Carl Erhardt was one of the most notable exceptions.

He played in six of the seven games, becoming the oldest ice hockey gold medallist aged 39.

Erhardt learned the game while at school in Switzerland, Austria and Germany but returned to England to join the powerful Streatham club.

He helped the British team finished third at the 1935 World Championships and after winning Olympic gold, retired from the sport.

He coached the British team at the 1948 Olympics and served as a referee and senior official of the British Ice Hockey Association, in addition to becoming a founding member and first President of the British Water Ski Federation.

However, it was London-born, Ontario-raised John Davey who was the star of the 1936 team - finishing top scorer with seven goals, including a hat-trick against Czechoslovakia and a goal after just 20 seconds in the semi-final against Canada.

The other members of the victorious 1936 team were: Alexander Archer, James Borland, Edgar Brenchley, James Chappell, John Coward, Gordon Dailley, James Foster, John Kilpatrick, Archie Stinchcombe and James Wyman.

7. JEANETTE ALTWEGG, OSLO 1952

Imagine Laura Robson - fresh from her triumph at the All England Club - winning an ice skating medal at Vancouver 2010 and then remember Jeanette Altwegg.

Altwegg reached the junior finals at Wimbledon in 1947 but one year later took bronze at the 1948 Winter Olympics.

She went on to win the world title in 1951 and within 12 months claimed gold in Oslo with a narrow victory over American Tenley Albright, who went on to succeed Altwegg as Olympic champion in 1956.

Her triumph in Oslo secured a clean sweep of Olympic, European and world titles and she immediately retired from the sport, aged just 22.

Altwegg turned down offers to turn professional, in favour of her work with a children's orphanage in Switzerland.

8. MADGE SYERS nee CAVE, LONDON 1908

Florence Madeline Cave, better known as Madge, owed her success to a meeting with coach Edgar Syers, who despite being 19 years her senior went on to become her husband.

Syers encouraged Cave to revolutionise her routines and together they won the British pairs title in 1899.

But it was on her own that Cave really excelled - she even finished second in the singles event, in which she took on men, at the 1902 World Championships.

Women were subsequently banned from competing, a rule that was revised in 1905 with Cave winning both the 1906 and 1907 women's world titles.

When organisers of the 1908 Summer Games in London included the sport of ice dancing, Cave was immediately installed as the overwhelming home favourite.

She won as the undisputed choice of all judges and also partnered Syers to win a bronze in the pairs event.

Cave passed away in 1917, aged just 35, 11 years before the first ever Winter Olympics in Chamonix. However, her impact on winter sports cannot be underplayed.

9. GREAT BRITAIN MEN'S CURLING TEAM, CHAMONIX 1924

Great Britain won curling gold at the first ever Winter Olympics - although it wasn't formally recognised until 82 year later.

The 1924 Games in Chamonix were held as the International Winter Sports Week and were only recognised as the first Winter Olympics retrospectively, at the IOC's Session in Lisbon two years later.

Curling was originally thought to be a demonstration event in Chamonix but a campaign by The Herald in Glasgow, on behalf of the families of competitors, lead to an IOC decision to award a gold medal in the days before the 2006 Games in Turin.

Meaning the all-Scottish team of father and son Willie and Laurence Jackson, Robin Welsh and Tom Murray became Britain's eighth gold medallists at the Olympic Winter Games, with Madge Syers ice dance triumph in 1908 counting towards the Summer Games medal tally.

10. WILF O'REILLY, CALGARY 1988

Wilf O'Reilly is the only British Winter Olympian to win two golds in a single Games - although his achievement was denied full acclamation because it came when short track speed skating was only a demonstration sport.

Four years later in Albertville it was part of the full Olympic programme but O'Reilly - despite being the reigning double world champion - was just outside the medals, finishing fifth in the 1000m and sixth with team-mates in the relay.

In Lillehammer he again arrived as favourite but suffered on and off ice disappointment, with girlfriend and top Dutch skater Monique Velzeboer left in a wheelchair after a training accident in the build-up to the Games.

Early exits followed in both his events, with O'Reilly blaming skates that were damaged in earlier rounds.

But the Birmingham skater's achievements in Calgary - despite being considered non-official - earn him a justified place in the top ten of British Winter Olympic greats.

Do you agree with our views? Feel free to make your case for anyone omitted on our rankings.

---

RELATED:

Great Britain's Winter Olympics Hall of Fame - 1-5

Great Britain's Winter Olympics Hall of Fame - 11-15

Great Britain's Winter Olympics Hall of Fame - 16-20

Great Britain's Winter Olympics Hall of Fame - 21-25

---

JAMES TONEY