Back in September 1981 a Norwegian football commentator  named Bjorge Lillelien became something of a legend when he famously screeched after Norway had shocked England with a 2-1 victory in Oslo: "Queen Elizabeth, Lord Nelson, Sir Winston Churchill, Lady Diana, Maggie Thatcher...your boys took a hell of a beating tonight!"

Those words came back to haunt the equally stunned Norwegian nation less than a fortnight ago when a young Brit, Andrew Musgrave, astonishgly beat them at their own game of cross-country skiing to win their national sprint championship, finishing ahead of their own Olympic prospects.

That night he went on Norwegian national television where he had been the lead news item, and impishly declared: "King Harald, Prime Minister Solberg, Thort Heyerdahl...your boys took a hell of a beating today."

To say the Norwegians were gobsmacked is an understatement. But speechless as they were, they had to appreciate the irony of the situation once they realised it was snow joke.

A bit of a card is our Andrew, a 23-year-old born in Dorset, raised in Scotland and Alaska, where his father worked in the oil industry, and joining a ski school in southern Norway before beginning an engineering degree in Trondheim.

There he has become as fluent in Norwegian as he obviously is in skimming across their snowy terrain.

Musgrave's elder sister Posy, 27, also a Team GB member in the Nordic events, was ecstatic after observing his achievement. "The best guys in the country were there and he just skied away from them, no-one could respond," she says. "Watching it was amazing, seeing the astounded Norwegian commentators."

Four years ago in Vancouver Musgrave had finished 58th as a teenage debutant.

Now, after intensive training in Norway, Musgrave says he feels "much stronger and faster", a statement with which the bemused Norsemen he left in his wake will concur.

Could it be that Musgrave now will emerge as Britain's most unlikely Winter Olympics hero?

He is certainly my tip to be one of the personalities of Sochi 2014.

Britain's Andrew Musgrave caused a major surprise when he won the Norwegian Cross Country Championships ©Getty Images

So who else might grab us by the snowballs once the Games begin next week?

I have gathered the views of an assortment of Summer and Winter Olympians past and present and the result is a fascinating cross-section of opinion  from those who appreciate the pressures of attempting to clamber aboard the podium.

First up,  Lord Coe, double 800 metres gold medallist who is now chair of the British Olympic Association. He believes Musgrave could be one of Sochi's most popular characters but opts for team-mate James Woods as the snowman most likely to spring a surprise.

"And that's not just because like me he comes from Sheffield and went to the same school .He's 18-years-old. a fun guy, quite small but really talented. He won a silver medal at  2013  Freestyle World Cup and if he wins a gold medal in Sochi he'll be a household name, and not just in Sheffield!"

Another Steel City star, Jessica Ennis-Hill,  the Olympic heptathon champion, also goes for a local choice, telling insidethegames: "Off the back of the success of Team GB in the London OIympics there is a lot of talk of medal hopes for the team in Sochi - and none more so for my good friend Shelley Rudman in the skeleton.

"We both train in Sheffield at the English Institute of Sport and when she is home work out in the gym together.

"Shelley is a complete inspiration - she has already won a silver medal at the Turin [2006] Winter Games and as a mum of Ella is balancing being a full time athlete with being an amazing mother. She is going into Sochi as the reigning world champion in skeleton and I know she will be expecting a lot from herself - she is the ultimate professional and has so much experience and will be leaving no stone unturned in her preparation.

"She will have it all worked out in her head. I will be tuned in to watch her; and not to forget Shelley's fiancé Kristan Bromley too. Kristan is a former world champion and is has been to three Olympics before.

"I wish everyone in the team lots of luck and hope that in just a small way the success of the team in the summer will be an inspiration to them all."

Shelley Rudman, a silver medallist at Turin 2006, will be among the favourites again at Sochi 2014 ©Getty Images

Unsurprisingly, the last Briton to win a Winter Olympics gold medal, Amy Williams ,suggests not Rudman but the more in-form Brit Lizzy Yarnold, current World Cup skeleton champion, to succeed her on  the top rung of the Sochi podium: "Lizzy has totally dominated the World Cup series this winter and if she can keep in that bubble at the Olympics she'll be untouchable.

"I like to think I've given her some help and advice. She is a raw talent, strong and powerful and someone who really enjoys the sport.

"She also happens to a friend and a tenant of mine as she lives in a flat I own in Bath."

When I caught the legend that is Franz Klammer hiking half-way up a mountain in his native Austria his first words were: "Give my regards to my good friend Seb Coe. We go way back and I look forward to renewing our acquaintance in Sochi."

The now 60-year-old "Kaiser Franz," was to the downhill what Coe was to middle-distance running. Olympic champion in 1976 and prolific winner of 25 World Cup downhill competitions. 

He is looking forward to see if the American veteran Bode Miller can win another Olympic gold at 35.

"I consider him one of the the greatest skiers of all time.,and one of the most exciting I have ever seen both in the downhill and Super G.

"I believe he is the most decorated Olympic skier in American history with five medals,  including one of every colour at the 2010 [Vancouver] Games. There will be many outstanding skiers in Sochi but in my opinion  Miller is still the one to watch."

South Korea's Yuna Kim will be favourite at Sochi 2014 to defend the title she won at Vancouver 2010 ©Getty Images

For Robin Cousins, Olympic figure skating gold medalist in 1980, the personality he thinks will captivate the TV viewers will be the defending  women's champion Yuna Kim, of South Korea. "She is the grand dame of skating, a beautiful woman on and off the ice. She  has such a graceful, classic style.

"There are some other excellent skaters, notably the Russians, but they are mainly kids. This contest is a woman versus girls and I take the woman  to win and become the world's skating sweetheart."

The all-Scottish women's curling team, skipped by bagpipe-playing Eve Muirhead, is favoured to emulate the golden glory of the squad led by Rhona Martin at Salt Lake City in 1992. Rhona, who has reverted to her maiden name of Howie, following a divorce, agrees GB hopes are high when it comes to the rolling stones but warns that Muirhead faces a crucial tactical battle of wits with the Canadian skip Jennifer Jones.

"She [Jones] is  very experienced  and very flamboyant- a real character. She is a a 39-year-old mother and a qualified lawyer who is not afraid to  take risky shots and plays the big angles cleverly.

"She and Eve know each other well and faced each other only last week in in the Inter-Continental Cup, which GB won. Eve is always cool under pressure while Jennifer is very demonstrative. Theirs should be an intriguing tussle."

Sir Steve Redgrave, five-times Olympic rowing gold medallist and a great winter sports enthusiast, is backing the British snowboardert  Zoe Gillings to provide the wow factor

"She deserves a taste of glory at last. I believe this is her third Games but she has struggled for funding. She's had to find the money to keep going  which is hard at the latter end of her career. But this seems to have given her quite a lot of focus.

"I can empathise with her as her situation has been rather like that of British  rowing at the start of my own career when we struggled for funding in the sport. I have a sneaking feeling Zoe might do quite well. I certainly hope so."

Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards continues to be one of the most popular athletes ever to compete in the Winter Olympics despite the fact it happened 26 years ago ©Allsport/Getty Images

Finally, we must not overlook the Eagle who dared in Calgary 26 years ago - Eddie Edwards..

Still treated as a pariah by the unamused  BOA and ignored by the BBC as a pundit for the Winter Olympics, he  continues to land on his feet, regularly trousering a good few bob on the back of his low flying feat.

After donning budgie-smugglers to win ITV's "Splash" he is currently on the  box again  every night this week in yet another "celeb" sports reality show, teaching  a dozen  or so notables from comics to cricketers how to become winter sports wonders on Channel 4's "Jump".

With fellow former Olympians Amy Williams and Graham Bell is in  Austria coaching , among others, Sir Steve Regrave,  Darren Gough, Anthea Turner, Marcus Brigstock and a Pussycat Doll in how to survive the perils of the downhill, speed skating and the skeleton. And, of course, ski jumping.

No Eagle to titillate us with his flight of fancy in Sochi but Edwards suggests we'll be glued to the box whenever the equally intrepid Japanese Noriaki Kosai, at 41 thought to be the world's oldest ski jumper, is poised to do his fling. "Kasai has competed in six Olympics during his career - a record for a ski jumper and I would love to see him finally get on the podium on either the small or big hill. Watch him take off. He has a crazy style-they don't call, him 'Kamikaze' for nothing."

Edwards adds: "I'm 50 now, and I'd  love to be jumping in Sochi but the  BOA don't want to know. But I reckon I could qualify for the 2018 Games in Pyeonchang. I'm lighter and fitter than I was in Calgary and I reckon I could jump further. All I need is a sponsor."

Might Ryanair be interested, as they also often land some distance from the destination?

There may be some eminently watchable personalities in Sochi but none will ever grab us by the snowballs quite like dear old Eddie.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning  sports columnist for the The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and  world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.