With increasing success and self-belief, the time is now for Australia’s Winter Olympians.
On Friday, those in green and gold will march in Pyeongchang and begin what they hope will be Australia’s most successful Winter Olympic campaign.
“It’s unquestionably the best-credentialled team Australia will take to a [Winter] Olympic Games,” said long-time Chef de Mission Ian Chesterman.
“Our results over the last three years since Sochi have been outstanding across the board.”
Chesterman’s remarks are not unsubstantiated.
Australian winter athletes won a record 39 world cup and world championship medals in the last Northern Hemisphere winter season.
World champions Scotty James (snowboard half-pipe), Britt Cox (skiing) and Lydia Lassila (aerials) top the list for prospective Olympic medallists in Pyeongchang.
Long considered the ‘B’ team in Australia’s Olympic movement, the 2018 Games loom as the opportunity for Australia’s winter Olympic team to step out of the shadows.
Despite promising results in the lead-up to the Sochi Games in 2014, Australia did not win a gold medal.
Instead, the team claimed a total of three medals (two silver and one bronze).
[table id=2 /]However, no other Southern Hemisphere nation featured on the medal table.
While respect has been earned globally, greater recognition at home is firmly needed. The team are playing down medal expectations for now. But if ever there was a time for Australia’s winter Olympians to make their mark, it is in 2018.
Aussie Aussie Aussie!
