Matt Weston’s first gold medal was greeted with a margherita pizza. His second was followed by celebrations that extended until 4am on Monday morning.
‘I think we’re just running on adrenaline at the moment,’ was his summary of the fatigue that comes with becoming Britain’s only Winter Olympian to scale the mountain twice at one Games.
‘It’s going alright so far but I think I might be a bit tired later. We enjoyed ourselves a little bit last night. We’re not known for being good drinkers, though, because we’re athletes. So, we’re not heavyweight, let’s put it that way.’
In his world of skeleton, Weston ranks among the biggest of beasts to ever do it. To win one gold in the men’s competition on Friday was impressive, but to follow it by spearheading his union with Tabitha Stoecker to a second on Sunday was unique.
A new detail within those wins was disclosed on Monday, when Weston revealed he has been affected by a severe, long-running shoulder injury in need of surgery. That followed a 12cm tear in his quadriceps at the start of the season and other items of wear and tear, not counting the broken back he sustained in his younger days in taekwondo.
A pair of gold medals can soothe such damage, but Weston, 28, will be heading imminently to an operating theatre.
Matt Weston secured his second gold of the Winter Olympics in the skeleton mixed relay with Tabitha Stoecker, left, on Sunday night
Weston, pictured alongside his mum and dad, revealed his celebrations extended until 4am but admitted he and his skeleton team-mates are not heavyweights when it comes to drinking
Weston revealed he is already lined up to undergo shoulder surgery having battled through long-term pain, while adding that his hip ‘is done’
He said: ‘I think I do need to give my brain and also my body some time to rest. There is a toll that it takes on your body to do this sport. Like the training alone. I’m already lined up for an operation as soon as I get back on my shoulder.
‘For a year or so, I’ve needed it but we’ve been holding out until after the Games. My hip is done. If you X-Rayed me, you’d probably find a hundred problems.
‘We considered it (the surgery) at the start of summer last year, just to see what we could do, but we just didn’t want to risk it, really. So I’ve been competing with like a dodgy shoulder and in a lot of pain quite a lot of the time.
‘I’m quite looking forward to getting that fixed, because there’s a lot of sled work I haven’t been able to do, so I’ve had to rely on coaches to help me. I have not really been carrying my sled around, not just because I’m being lazy and a bit of a princess, but physically, it would break me basically. I was hanging on getting to these Games and the team around me have done a very good job, just to get me here and in good enough condition that I can go and compete, really.
‘I need to let my body rest, my brain rest, and have a little time to myself and me and my fiancée. Just chill out really.’
On the immediate agenda is his stag party ahead of a summer wedding. As it happens, Stoecker’s boyfriend, Pat, is Weston’s best man.
Weston added: ‘We’ve missed a lot in terms of the sacrifices we have to make to get to this point, so we will have a bit of a blowout, to be honest. We’ve been very sensible for the past four or five years, concentrating on this, and not really had that much chance to let loose, so I’m looking forward to that.’
There is no disputing the gravity of Weston’s achievements here. Nor the history of what he has achieved. And yet there remains the question of whether £5.7million of lottery money is best spent on a sport that so few in the United Kingdom will ever experience.
Weston is set to marry his fiancee Alex Howard-Jones, centre, in the summer
Stoecker’s boyfriend Pat, right, is Weston’s best man and will be responsible for organising his stag do ahead of the wedding
Weston has defended the £5.7million of lottery money given to skeleton, with the double gold medallist highlighting the enquiries received from those wanting to get involved in the sport
Weston offered a counter-argument on Monday, by pointing to how many enquiries there have been to follow in his ice path, possibly via the kind of UK Sport Talent ID with which he stumbled across skeleton by chance in 2017.
Weston’s take: ‘You never know where you’re going to end up in this sport, it can take you on an amazing journey. I’ve been to countries and places I never thought I would do, I’ve achieved things I never thought I would do, and there’s already been a pretty big uptake.
‘I think 3,500 people have applied for skeleton off the back of the last few years. That’s pretty special to me that we’ve been able to be part of that inspirational journey. It’s probably gone up more.’
It is understood there have been more than 1,000 enquiries since Friday alone. But the reality of any of them ever having a chance to pilot a sled through that route will pale in comparison to the opportunities to go skiing, for example. The fact that Weston and Stoecker train on a push track in Bath for six months a year is proof of the scarcity of facilities.
As ever with the dry subject of lottery funding, there remains considerable middle ground on the topic of its purpose: is it to inspire others to take up sport, or to secure as many prizes as possible at the Games? For Stoecker and Weston, the slightly flawed hope is that both can be true.
Stoecker said: ‘For skeleton, it’s not always the most watched outside of the Games. We’ve been really successful, but maybe not as much recognition as maybe other sports get. So to have this moment at the Olympic Games with the whole nation behind us, being front page on the news, having all the attention, is not just for us.
‘It is for all those people who might be inspired by what we’ve done in any way – whether it’s just being active, or getting into a sport, or getting into skeleton. So, for me, that just feels so impactful, and, hopefully, that will last way longer than we will.’