WITH the 2014 Winter Olympics in full swing in Sochi, a Tiverton gold medallist from the 1964 games has been recalling his memories, 50 years on.

Tony Nash MBE, who now combines farming with running Pennymoor Timber in Tiverton, hurtled to two-man bobsleigh gold in Innsbruck, Austria - and the 77-year-old admits that the games have moved on a long way since his time.

He said: “It was a lot more amateur then they are today, a lot more amateur. There's no way they would have spent the money they have today.

“I have been following the current games and they have been fantastic so far, really good. It seems to be going really well and the bobsleigh looks like it could be fast and furious, if it's on the same track as the skeleton.”

Tony Nash took up bobsleigh whilst on national service in the Royal Dragoons - and his love of the adrenalin-filled event motivated him to get better at it.

He said: “I started doing it on national service. It was something I really enjoyed and if you enjoy something, you want to get better at it.

“We expected to come third at the games but we ended up coming first, it was a very proud moment and we certainly celebrated. By the time we had finished all of the interviews we were a little bit cross-eyed.”

Tony's bobsleigh partner in 1964 was Robin Dixon, now Lord Glentoran.

The pair came together in St Moritz in 1961 following an injury to Dixon's driver, Henry Taylor, sustained in a motor-racing accident.

To this day, Tony Nash and Robin Dixon remain Britain's only bobsleigh gold medallists and have a corner named after them at the St Moritz track.

They went on to win the World Championship in 1965 before taking bronze in 1966 - and Tony is very proud of what he has achieved. He said: “They can't take it away from you, the medals, it was a proud moment.”