Where are they now?: Dixon and Nash

GLORY may beckon for Mark Tout and company, but Tony Nash and Robin Dixon still have British bobsleigh's Olympic hall of fame to themselves, 30 years after hurtling to the two-man gold at Innsbruck.

'Good luck to them. It's about time someone took our place,' said Nash, whose daughter, Annabel, a former luge competitor, will be helping the BBC commentary team at Lillehammer.

Nash, 57, now combines farming with running a timber mill in Devon. He is also master of Tiverton Foxhounds. Dixon, 58, heir of Lord Glentoran, is the managing director of the Northern Ireland arm of Redland, the concrete manufacturers.

'We probably meet once a year, perhaps shooting,' Dixon said. 'And the BBC dig us out from time to time to tell our story.'

They paired up in St Moritz in 1961 when Dixon's driver, Henry Taylor, was injured in a motor racing accident. Nash took his place with brakeman Dixon. 'We were very good friends with the Italians - the best in the world then - and learned a good deal from them,' Dixon said.

Nash has some reservations about the modern bobber's approach. 'I understand they use a sports psychologist, whatever that is. If things got tense we would retire to a bottle of whisky.'

Disappointed with their final run at Innsbruck, they had already adjourned to a cafe before learning that the Italians had done worse.

(Photograph omitted)