It is a long way, figuratively and metaphorically, from Eddie the Eagle in Calgary to Lizzy Yarnold's ambitions for Sochi. If the have-a-go ski jumper who finished dead last in 1988 epitomised the plucky British loser trying and failing with limited funds, the focused and supremely fit skeleton world No1 represents a new breed of Team GB athletes who hope to return with their best medal haul.
Whereas Eddie Edwards was more than happy to be there, his dismal performance forcing the IOC to change the qualification rules, ask Yarnold how she hopes to do and she will stop smiling and say: "I am a very process-driven athlete so I visualise the track a lot. I visualise the feelings of going out to the block and seeing the crowd. I don't enter any race to come second."
Having never stepped on a sled until six years ago, she was discovered by the Girls 4 Gold talent spotting system and has had her natural talent for the sport honed to the point where she won this year's World Cup as part of a system lubricated by public money. In skeleton, Britain has won a medal in every Games it has been included and Shelley Rudman has a realistic chance of repeating her medal-winning feat of eight years ago. In the men's and women's curling, in bobsleigh and short track speed skating there are genuine medal hopes.
Among the breed of "fridge kids" – the 13, largely youthful, snowboarders and freestyle skiers who will hurl themselves off jumps and down half-pipes in some of the most spectacular action of the Games – it is hoped that at least one or two will win medals, with James Woods and Katie Summerhayes leading the charge.
The story of Britain's summer Olympic rebirth has been well told. A solitary gold in Atlanta was transformed through the introduction of National Lottery funding and a world-class performance system into the glut of precious metal in Beijing and London.
The numbers are inevitably smaller in winter sport, and Britain's obvious geographical and climatic challenges when it comes to the Alpine events will always be a factor, but those in charge of investing £14m into the handful of sports where there are genuine medal chances believe there could be a sea change in the way we view winter sport. "We have got more potential across more sports than we've ever had going into the Games. This is different," said Liz Nicholl, the UK Sport chief executive, who has overseen a total investment that has more than doubled on the Vancouver cycle.
"This is almost like the first coming of age of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic teams because they've been benefitting from National Lottery investment over a period of time. Their systems are becoming more sophisticated, we're recruiting and keeping good people."
The structure created around short track speed skating in Nottingham, skeleton in Bath or curling in Stirling has direct parallels with the approach taken by cycling in Manchester. Training is centralised around a high-performance centre using the very best psychologists, research, nutritionists and sport scientists to refine endlessly the search for the best talent.
In events that rely heavily on equipment, the research undertaken by McLaren and BAE Systems to make sleds go faster is part of the perennial search for the marginal gains that will give British teams the edge. Yet all involved also caution that winter sport is more unpredictable than most – the facilities, the weather and the order of competition can make a huge difference to the outcome.
"I can't remember a time when we had as many as five world championship medallists in Olympic and Paralympic winter sport a year before the Games. A combination of a track record of success and a team that is better prepared than ever," said Simon Timson, the UK Sport performance director who made his reputation in the skeleton before moving to the England and Wales Cricket Board and then taking on his current role in 2012.
"We have more experienced performance directors, more experienced coaches and more experienced scientists and engineers than ever before. Our talent pool is nowhere near as big as summer Olympic sport. So it's down to people performing on the day. Everybody will be upping their game and we've got to respond accordingly."
The "no compromise" mantra by which UK Sport invests its money results in some stark choices and the black and white process can seem overly prescriptive. If you cannot prove as a sport that you are capable of winning a medal at this Games or the next one, then there is no money. That leaves some impressive athletes struggling for funds. Chemmy Alcott, the downhill skier, below, who has battled back from a horrific injury to take part at her fourth Olympics, is one of those who is highly unlikely to win a medal but has consistently been Britain's best over many years. "Funding is quite a sensitive one. I've not had much but I've had great support from sponsors and the public. I don't feel alone in the start gate, a lot of people have invested in my career," she said.
"Obviously you have to support people you believe can win but it's a vicious circle because if you don't support future grassroots sports how are they going to get better? But it's very easy to waste energy on politics and bitterness. I just want to go out there and ski fast for Team GB."
Overall, though, it is hard to argue with a system that has delivered so spectacularly in summer sport. The fervent hope of the 56 athletes and 70-plus coaches and support staff, most of whom are due to march around the Fisht Stadium during lavish opening ceremony, is that the Sochi Games will alter perceptions. If they hit the bottom end of UK Sport's target of three to seven medals, it will be their best return since the 1936 Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Then, Hitler used the Games as a platform for Nazi propaganda and critics of Vladimir Putin's Russia have drawn parallels between the two. Four medals would equal the best return, in Chamonix in 1924. In the 90 years since, Britain has won 23 medals.
Those inside the camp, including the British Olympic Association chairman, Lord Coe, believe that there has been a change in mindset to match the shift in medal potential. The Sir Clive Woodward-inspired "one Team GB" rhetoric that was easy to mock pre-London 2012 but helped to produce the best performance since 1908 has been infused throughout the smaller winter squad.
The modern model of high-performance sport may have resulted in fewer mavericks but it has produced a generation of highly focused athletes who no longer see turning up to get the kit as the limit of their ambitions.
Jon Eley, the speed skater who will carry the Union flag around a $600m stadium that will be used just twice, for the opening and closing ceremonies, has been reading Sir Alex Ferguson's latest book for inspiration. He said there was now an expectation of success and that the medal target was well within their grasp. "We have to put in some hard work and stay focused and strong," he said. "If we do what we have come here to do we should achieve that."
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