The most unlikely of triumphs that spawned its own catch phrase. A consistent contender in high-flying skiing and snowboard events. And a breadth and depth of talent that continues to grow as snow sports go global.
Australia competed at 12 Winter Games with mixed results before finding a first spot on a podium and its place among the national snow and ice strongholds. Six gold, seven silver and six bronze medals have now been secured – with high hopes for more to be added to the collection at Milano Cortina – as well as some of the nation’s most celebrated Olympic moments.
Fortune favours Bradbury the brave
Steven Bradbury accepted that his ageing legs lacked the speed and power to match the four other 1,000m short-track finalists in Salt Lake City in 2002. Luck had been on his side in the quarter-finals and again in the semi-finals when four skaters tripped up on the last lap to open up a path for him to breeze through. With the stakes even higher, the 28-year-old again rolled the dice and let the race for a medal play out in front of him. He was a comfortable distance off the pace until on the last corner of the last lap, a mere 15 metres from the finish, the four other skaters took each other out and crashed to the ice. Bradbury was left to raise his arms and glide across the line to claim Australia’s first Winter Olympics gold medal. Fortune had favoured the brave, with more than a hint of misfortune for his opponents, and a new source of national pride had been born in “doing a Bradbury”.
Steggall breaks down ski barriers
Australia had too often felt like a surprise guest at the Winter Olympics before Zali Steggall’s breakthrough individual medal in the prestigious slalom skiing event. The 23-year-old had earlier become the first Australian woman to win a World Cup alpine skiing event and was ranked No 6 heading into Nagano 1998. But her bronze medal – while finishing in 1m 32.67s and only 0.27s behind gold – was the biggest sign yet that the sun-drenched nation could compete on snow and ice, and enough to encourage improved funding in the future for elite winter sport athletes.
Aerials skiers lay foundation for success
Alisa Camplin became Australia’s second Winter Olympics gold medallist shortly after Bradbury’s breakthrough triumph at Salt Lake City 2002. The ex-gymnast did it the hard way as she defied doctors’ advice and landed a pair of triple-twisting, double backflip jumps with both her ankles fractured. Camplin added a bronze medal four years later, while Lydia Lassila overcame her own horror injuries to put Australia back on top of the podium in the same event at Vancouver 2010 and earned her own bronze in Sochi. An unlikely strength in freestyle skiing had its affirmation with hopes the legacy will extend to in Milano Cortina.
Speed skaters end slow and long medal journey
Before Bradbury etched his name in global sporting folklore, the speed skater was a key part of the quartet that made its own history when claiming Australia’s first Winter Olympics medal at Lillehammer 1994. The 5,000m short-track relay team – that also included Kieran Hansen, Andrew Murtha and Richard Nizielski – backed what would later become a strategy to fill the bucket of national pride, as they prioritised staying upright over battling for higher honours.
Big bets pay off for Bright and Begg-Smith
Dale Begg-Smith’s change of allegiance from Canada to Australia as a teenager, and three years without competition on the way to citizenship, paid off when he triumphed in the moguls at Turin 2006 at the age of 21. The tech entrepreneur added to his medal collection four years later with silver in the city of his birth, Vancouver, amid claims of biased-judging in favour of other hometown skiers. Torah Bright took a different sort of gamble on the way to Olympic glory, after Australia’s 2010 flag bearer crashed on her first run in the snowboard halfpipe final. With pressure mounting on the 23-year-old, she then nailed a high-risk, high-scoring run to grasp the nation’s first medal – a gold – in an Olympic snowboard event. Following up with a silver medal in the same event at Sochi 2014 might leave most defending champions with a tinge of regret. But Bright celebrated with a huge grin as she joined Begg-Smith as Australia’s most successful Winter Olympian to date.
