How can NI athletes make it to the Winter Olympics?

As the Winter Olympics kicked off this weekend, it may not come as a surprise that there are no athletes from Northern Ireland taking part.

This part of the world, although certainly cold, is not really known for its winter sports.

Northern Ireland doesn't have any ski resorts and currently boasts just one ice rink, but in the past athletes have beaten the odds to perform at the highest level.

So what does it take to be a Winter Olympian?

Former figure skater, Jenna McCorkell, represented Team GB at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.

Born in Coleraine, County Londonderry, McCorkell took her first steps onto the ice at the Jet Centre.

"The reason I actually got my parents to take me to the rink was I saw a little girl in the newspaper and she had a sparkly dress and she had all these trophies and I thought 'I want that'," McCorkell said.

"Then it became a little bit of an addiction, they had to trail me from the ice every day… I became very obsessed very early on."

But aged just 12, McCorkell's local ice rink in Coleraine closed down.

"I do believe that if there hadn't been a ice rink in Coleraine when I was seven years old, I would never have been a figure skater," she said.

Already on the British team, McCorkell was dedicated to success, travelling to the one remaining ice rink in Dundonald, County Down, every day to train.

At the age of 15, she made the "tough" decision to move to England.

She said she was glad she made the move and had "no regrets" but it was "a big ask" and expensive.

"Again it is that vicious circle, you need results to get funding but you need funding to get those results," she added.

McCorkell said there was no shortage of talent in Northern Ireland but she had long advocated for more ice rinks.

"You have the whole north coast, you have Londonderry with no access," she said.

"It's restricting you from figure skating, short track, ice hockey, curling. There are so many different ice sports which can be trained on the one ice pad."

McCorkell's husband, former Belgian figure skater Kevin van der Perren, travels each day to coach at the Dundonald ice rink.

Speaking about her Olympic experience McCorkell said: "I will never forget walking out in the opening ceremony, it is a feeling you can't explain and just thinking 'this is what it was all for'."

Former Olympic snowboarder, Aimee Fuller, will be at the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, in her new role as a broadcaster for TNT Sport.

Born in England, Fuller at an early age went to local dry slopes but she also competed in motocross.

It was this sport, combined with gymnastics, which she believes prepared her for her future career.

Fuller's first real experience of snowboarding came at about the age of eight, while visiting family in Canada.

"Like most people, when you first try snowboarding it is incredibly frustrating and it's really quite tricky," she said.

Fuller's family moved to America when she was 12, which is when she fell in love with the sport.

"Snowboarding is different to any other sport, it is a blank canvas for creativity, it's a sport that you start because you love it," she said.

When the family moved to Northern Ireland when Fuller was 16, she thought it would not be possible to chase her dream from here.

However, just one week after starting Sullivan Upper School in Holywood, Fuller got a call saying she had been spotted snowboarding in the US and was invited to the Roxy Futures Camp in Switzerland.

"Sullivan were really really good with me, and I guess Rory McIlroy set the precedent for not attending because he was in the year above."

Fuller said inspiration is one of the main elements to making it as an Olympian - and she competed for Team GB at the 2014 and 2018 Games.

"I think it is definitely hard but it is about being inspired, I remember watching the London 2012 Olympics… and thinking that's what I want to do."

Fuller said the new "Instagram and TikTok generation" presented an opportunity for budding athletes to showcase their ability.

However, she said that making it to the Olympics takes hard work.

"It is brutal, you travel around the world with your snowboard bag, you have back-to-back competitions… it's hard on the body, it's mentally tough."

Fuller said the first thing she did after qualifying was ring her mum.

"In that moment it's more than just you, it's everyone else who has experienced that roller coaster of a journey to get you there."