Montell Douglas column: Beijing 2022 will be very different to Beijing 2008

Montell Douglas is a bobsleigh brakewoman on the Great Britain team, heading to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. She is also a former sprinter for Great Britain, competing in the 100m and relay at the 2008 summer Olympics, also in Beijing. This is her third BBC Sport column.

I haven't really had a chance to reflect on that or my selection yet, and I probably won't until we're on the plane to China as that's the only time I'll have nothing else to do!

I had a lot of media to do that day, it was a double training session day as well, so I was doing interviews between sessions at the track. But I'm so appreciative and so honoured by the reaction.

We received our Team GB kit on Friday and that was really exciting for us as a team. I had my team-mate Mica McNeill try on each piece of kit to show us because I wanted to nap, so I ended up sat there in my recovery boots as she modelled all the pieces, all of us deciding our favourite pieces.

I really like the kit, the sets are beautiful. We obviously didn't have the normal kitting out experience, but the priority is to stay safe.

Right now we are in a holding camp in Bath until we fly to Beijing. It means we can get in some good training on our push track, which is almost a direct replica of the start profile for the track in Beijing.

With Covid-19, the testing protocols are pretty rigorous and there is lots of paperwork to do. Unfortunately, we can't go home to say goodbye to our families and get our home comforts, and we're taking extra precautions by not being out at the shops around other people, so there are lots of online orders being made.

It's a very different experience to when I went to the summer Olympics in 2008. We had a glimpse of what it is going to be like from Tokyo and I've spoken to Ashleigh Nelson, who was in the team with me in 2008 and has been to two Olympics since, including Tokyo. She said it was a completely different experience to her previous Olympics, but it is just something we have to accept and roll with.

But I don't think athletes actually care, because it's still the Olympic Games, this is their dream. When you go to an Olympics, you're part of a very small pool of people to do that and it's always a special thing. It's important to take stock of that achievement and hold onto it.

It's up to us to manage and make the most of the experience. It is going to be a very unique one, but I think the positive impact it may have is to build athletes' resilience going forward.

It's surreal to think that these Olympics are being held in the same city as my first. Beijing is the first city to host both the summer and winter Games.

One of our doctors, who is already out there, messaged me saying "hi from a very snowy Beijing!". I was like "SNOW?!". When some of my team-mates went out for the test event in October, they said during the day it wasn't that cold so I really wasn't expecting much snow.

It will look very different to how it did in 2008. I remember being on the 100m start line, it was 38 degrees and so humid. Right now, it is about -3 degrees. It's a completely different world, but one we are fully preparing for.

Mica McNeill and Montell Douglas will compete on 18-19 February

'I understand who I represent'

I'm going to be one of very few black athletes in the Team GB squad. Representation matters, and I understand who I represent. I represent black athletes in sport, I represent women in sport, and I represent an older generation of athletes who might not have thought they could still fulfil their dreams.

I hope by just being there and trying to achieve my goal resonates with groups of individuals and I feel honoured to be in that position.

One of my mentees, a teenage 100m sprinter from South London, has had trials for a girls' talent ID programme within skeleton. She called me at the beginning of the season for my opinion and said she would never have accepted the invitation had I not been doing bobsleigh.

That tiny impact on one young women's life means the world to me.

Looking forward, hopefully the momentum of diversity within the team at the Winter Olympics continues and we show other people of colour that they can be there too.

Diversity isn't just about giving everyone a fair chance, you really add value to any sphere or industry - whether it's sport, music, politics, anything. When you add different types of people, you add perspective and culture.

I'm really hoping that when we're in Beijing, people will watch and think even though we are not a winter nation, we are doing a pretty good job for Great Britain.

Montell Douglas was speaking to BBC Sport's Katie Falkingham.