The Newsroom takes a look at some of the Australian Winter olympians.
Australia will be well represented in the Sochi Winter Olympics with 60 athletes competing, the biggest number of Australians to compete in the event. Since Australia first participated in the Winter Olympics in 1936, they have racked up nine medals, five of them being gold.
We take a look at some of the key Australian competitors to watch this month.
Jana Pittman
Best known as the inspiring hurdler who participated in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, Pittman switched to bobsleigh in 2012 and competed in her first event in January 2013. Sochi will be her first appearance at a Winter Olympics. She becomes the first Australian woman to compete at both Summer and Winter Olympics.
Dale Begg-Smith
Begg-Smith was in spectacular form when he claimed victory in the Men’s Moguls in 2006, simultaneously becoming the second man in Australia to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics and the youngest to win the Men’s Moguls. The Australian-adopted-Canadian will look to add another medal to his trophy case and show why he was named the Ski and Snowboard’s Athlete of the Year three years in a row.
Torah Bright
Arguably Australia’s favourite snow sweetheart, Bright rose to stardom when she won the gold medal for Half Pipe at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. Now competing in her third olympics, Bright will compete in Half Pipe, Slope Style and Snowboard Cross and is set to become the first person to compete in three different Olympic snowboarding events.
Alex “Chumpy” Pullin
Our flag-bearer for these games, Pullin is the first Australian two-time Snowboard Cross world champion. He was devastated when he crashed out in the semifinals of the Vancouver Games. He’s tipped to be our star performer this year. – Noah La’ulu
Top photo of Torah Bright from VanCityAllie.com’s Flickr photostream.
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