Australia at the Winter Olympic Games
Australia made its first appearance at the Winter Olympic Games in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and has participated at all events since then except the 1948 Games in St. Moritz.
The nation’s Winter Olympic campaign got a boost when the Australian government increased its funding for winter sports, created the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia and bought an alpine training base in Austria.
The Aussie delegation captured its first medal at the Winter Games, when its 5,000m short track relay speed skating team took the bronze medal in 1994. Zali Steggall became the first-ever Australian to win a medal when she took home the bronze medal in the slalom event in the alpine skiing in 1998.
Australia’s Winter Olympic gold medal drought finally ended in 2002 when Steven Bradbury spectacularly won the 1,000m short track speed skating event and Alisa Camplin taking the aerials event, a feat that made Australia the first southern hemisphere nation to have captured a gold medal at the Winter Games.
Australia’s showing in 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games is the nation’s best ever, winning (at least) a gold medal, two silvers and one bronze. A gold medal for Jakara Anthony in moguls, plus Australia's first medal in sliding sports was won by Jaclyn Narracott, winning silver in the women's skeleton event.
Trivia
- At Salt Lake City in 2002, Australian's will remember the Games for the nation's first two gold medals at Winter Olympics level - Steven Bradbury's win in the short track speed skating when his rivals in the final all fell like nine pins to allow him to glide past and win, and aerial skier Alisa Camplin.
- In Vancouver 2010, Australian athletes achieved a record medal haul with two gold and a silver.
- Paul Narracott was the first person to represent Australia at both the Winter and Summer Olympics Games, in Athletics in 1984 and Bobsleigh in 1992. In 2014, bobsleigh rider Jana Pittman became Australia's first female athlete to do the double - competing in track and field at the 2000 and 2004 Games, and bobsle din 2014.
Related Pages
- About Sport in Australia
- Australia's Winter Games Medal Winners
- Australia at the Summer Olympics
- Why Is Australia So Successful at the Olympics?
- Video of Steve Bradbury winning gold
- More Winter Olympics Countries
- Winter Olympics main page.
- About Sport in Australia
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