Shelley's triumphant return (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Shelley's triumphant return

1:23pm Saturday 4th March 2006 in Pewsey By Joanne Moore

Olympic hero Shelley Rudman shed a tear as she made a triumphant return to her home village of Pewsey this morning.

Around 10,000 people lined the High Street as Shelley waved to the crowd from the upper deck of an open top bus organised by the Gazette and Herald.

Shelley, her parents Josie and Jack and her boyfriend and fellow Olympian Kristan Bromley, were all overcome by emotion.

Shelley said: "It is unbelievable. I am just totally blown away. I can't thank everyone enough. It was great of the Gazette and Herald to organise the bus."

The streets of Pewsey were decked in flags and wellwishers blew horns and whistles and waved the Well Done posters supplied by the Gazette.

Shelley had joked that she hoped more than a handful of people would turn out for her celebration journey.

But she need not have worried. The whole High Street was a sea of people and as the bus passed the crowd fell in behind and followed it to the Moonrakers Pub where a red, white and blue tickertape reception was let off along with fireworks as the crowd cheered the Olympic silver medalist .

Her journey from the bus to the door of the pub was almost as tricky as the descent on the skeleton bob which won her the medal in Turin. Everyone in Pewsey wanted to wish her well. And even the famous statue of King Alfred was decorated with his own silver medal. Home made banners decorated many shops and houses and in the window of one flat was a skeleton also with a medal made from a CD. The real medal was safely around Shelley's neck as the made the most of her journey.

The few hundred yards of bus ride took almost an hour as so many people lined the route.

Shelley said: "This is just unreal. I can't believe there are so many people. It is almost as exciting as when I won the medal."

Her father Jack said: "I am a very proud man."

A four-page picture special will appear in this week's Gazette and Herald.