Jade Etherington

Jade Etherington (born 9 March 1991) is a British former alpine skier who, with her sighted guide Caroline Powell, won silver in the women's downhill skiing, combined and slalom, and bronze medals in the Super-G at the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi. Their three silvers and a bronze at the Winter Paralympics made them the most successful female British Winter Paralympians of all time, and the first Britons to win four medals at one Paralympics. Because of her success at the 2014 Paralympics, Etherington was the British flagbearer at the 2014 Winter Paralympics closing ceremony.

Etherington has only five percent vision in both eyes and competes in the visually impaired category. Because of her impairment she requires a sighted guide, Caroline Powell. The pair have competed together since August 2013. After asking for a new guide through Facebook and after two other applicants pulled out, Etherington and Powell combined in April 2013.

Personal history Etherington was born in Chelmsford on 9 March 1991, to Amber, a Braintree District Council employee, and Andrew, a stockbroker. which puts her in the B2 classification. Etherington studied to become a geography teacher with The Open University, undertaking a PGCE, but placed her career on hold to concentrate on the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games. In 2014, she was awarded doctorate of science honoris causa by Anglia Ruskin University.

Skiing career Etherington began skiing while still sighted at the age of eight, being taught by her father Andrew and her sisters. She continued skiing recreationally for the next ten years. In 2009, she joined the British Disabled Ski Team (BDST) at development level, After two applicants pulled out, she was left without a guide at the beginning of 2013, but Heather Mills, who had not qualified for the World Championships, offered her coach, John Clark. The runs ensured her place at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi. She competed in the downhill, winning a silver medal with Powell on 8 March 2014. Slovakian Henrieta Farkasova came 2.73 seconds ahead. and silver in the slalom and the super combined. After winning a silver medal in the super-G visually impaired event on 14 March 2014, she and Powell became Great Britain's most successful female Winter Paralympians, and the first Britons to win four medals at one Paralympics. The four medals she won at the 2014 Winter Paralympics were part of a total of six for ParalympicsGB, 66% of the total British medals at the games.

Etherington was the flag bearer for Great Britain at the closing ceremony, despite rupturing an ovarian cyst, which left her in a wheelchair for much of the day of the ceremony; she was able to walk and carry the flag having taken painkillers. After the end of the 2014 Winter Paralympics, she was unsure if she would continue competing at international level, saying "I don't really know what I want right now".