QUEEN Elizabeth II was the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee after 70 years of service last week and Brighouse snowboarder Katie Ormerod was right at the heart of it.
Ormerod was invited to take part in the Jubilee Pageant celebrating Her Majesty, the Queen, after being recognised as a “national treasure”.
She joined a whole host of other stars (national treasure recognition), such as Joe Wicks and comedian Rosie Jones on an open bus tour, which paraded the streets of London before heading to Buckingham Palace via the Mall, where spectators were able to catch a glimpse of the stars.
Ormerod and her other compatriots then came together to sing the National Anthem as the Queen made her way to the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Discussing her involvement with the celebrations, Ormerod said: “I got asked to attend the celebrations around three months ago and I was shocked, surprised but most importantly extremely excited.
"The experience itself was amazing and I felt so honoured to be invited to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee; it was just surreal. It's definitely going to be an experience I remember forever."
Ormerod added: "It's a great feeling to be recognised as a national treasure along with some great people, who've done a lot for the country. To have all your achievements recognised is just brilliant and I can't emphasise enough how proud I was."
The Brighouse boarder's (slopestyle and big air snowboarding events) season came to an end in April and after returning from the snowy mountains to England, and it has given the Brighouse star time to reflect on what was an extremely successful season, a standout being her Winter Olympics debut in Beijing after her proposed 2018 debut was postponed due to a potentially career ending injury.
Reflecting on the campaign, Ormerod said: "I am extremely happy with how my season ended, I believe I finished it on a really high note. In the last two World Cups, I made the finals and I got some brilliant training in to round the season off, so I'm really looking forward to summer training.
"The next Olympic cycle will be soon upon us too, so that's going to be exciting. There is going to be plenty of big events in between now and the next Olympics, World Cups being one of them, but I'm feeling really inspired and motivated to keep pushing myself further."
Discussing her Olympic debut in February, Ormerod said: "It was incredible to finally be able to compete in the Olympics; its been a dream of mine throughout my whole sporting life. It was even nicer to think that I was the only female freestyle snowboarder representing Great Britain in Beijing; it was a really proud moment for me.
"I had to overcome a lot of demons to step up and get back to my original level after I broke my heal. I was extremely proud of myself to be able to do that and put down some runs in slopestyle, and to make my dream of competing at the Olympics come true because I had been waiting around nine years for that moment. "
With the season over, the slopestyle Olympian is preparing for a summer of training and discussing her plans, she said: "At this moment I'm having some downtime, which is much needed because this season has been hectic. But I'm still doing a lot of gym, and gymnastic work to keep my body in shape and to make sure my spacial awareness is still there so that I'm ready to go into summer training.
"We haven't got any plans set in stone just yet but I'll either be going to the Southern Hemisphere or Switzerland to ride the glaciers there in August time. We'll also be going to Belgium every month to ride the airbag there. So, it's still going to be busy but I'm trying to get some downtime as well."
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