Graham Bell (skier)

Graham Bell (born 4 January 1966) is a former Olympic skier who is also a TV presenter, adventurer and journalist. He has presented several BBC TV shows with Ed Leigh including High Altitude in 2009 and Ski Sunday more recently. Highlights included Graham tackling the Arctic Circle Race; a 160 mi (260 km) cross-country skiing race in Greenland; and surviving a night in a snow-hole without food, water or a sleeping bag. He set a personal best top speed on skis of 121 mph (195 km/h).

Bell was born on the Akrotiri Royal Air Force station in Cyprus in 1966, the son of pilot Rod Bell and teacher Jean Bell. Graham’s love of skiing started at ages 5 when his father was posted to Edinburgh, Scotland. He learned to ski in the Cairngorm Mountains and Hillend dry slope. By the time the family moved to Yorkshire, England (where his father was posted), Graham and his brother Martin were both racing full-time on the World Cup circuit, although they developed close ties with Harrogate dry ski slope hold coaching camps there in the summer. Rod Bell continued to fly with the RAF teaching at the Central Flying School. In 2005 when Graham flew with the Red Arrows as part of the BBC’s coverage of the Great North Run, he was surprised to find 5 of the 9 pilots had been taught by his father.

Graham Bell and his brother Martin competed for Britain throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Graham took a Silver Medal at the World Junior Ski Championships in 1984 and represented Great Britain at five Winter Olympics in Sarajevo 1984, Calgary 1988, Albertville 1992, Lillehammer 1994 and Nagano 1998. Bell achieved 12th place in the infamous Hahnenkamm Race in Kitzbühel, Austria.

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