Australia at the Winter Olympics

Australia first competed in the Winter Olympic Games in 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Australia has participated in every games since, with the exception of the 1948 Games in St. Moritz. At the 2010 Games in Vancouver Australia had its most successful Winter Olympics taking home two gold and one silver medal. Overall Australia has won 15 Winter Olympic medals – 5 gold, 5 silver and 5 bronze. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will be the first Winter Olympics to be held in Russia, with Australia sending a team of 60 athletes to compete in all 10 sports, including 31 women.

About Australia at the Winter Olympics in brief

Australia first competed in the Winter Olympic Games in 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Australia has participated in every games since, with the exception of the 1948 Games in St. Moritz. Australia won its first medal, a bronze, in 1994 in the men’s 5,000 metres short track relay speed skating event. At the 2010 Games in Vancouver Australia had its most successful Winter Olympics taking home two gold and one silver medal. Overall Australia has won 15 Winter Olympic medals – 5 gold, 5 silver and 5 bronze. Australia sent its largest ever Winter Olympic Team, 60 athletes, to Sochi, competing in 10 sports. The Sochi Team included 31 female athletes making it the first Australian Olympic Team,. Summer or Winter, with more female athletes than male. The decision-making bodies of the Australian Olympic Federation allowed winter sports to be represented, but their representatives were usually overruled by their summer counterparts. In the early years, Australia’s athletes did poorly; only two athletes placed in the top half of their events before 1976. The lack of success was attributed to the Australian culture, climate and lack of snow, as well as the lack of support for the athletes. In 2002, Steven Bradbury won the 1,000 metres short track speed skating and Alisa Camplin won the aerials event, making Australia the only southern hemisphere country to have won a gold medal at a Winter Olympics. In 1952, Robert Chisholm incorrectly declared that the Winter Olympics was Australia’s first at the 1956 Winter Olympics, when he was overlooked because he was a young ice hockey player.

In 2012, Australia won three medals in the snowboarding half-pipe snowboarding and aerial freestyle skiing respectively, with Torah Bright and Lydia Lassila winning the women’s half- pipe snowboarding, and David Morris winning silver. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will be the first Winter Olympics to be held in Russia, with Australia sending a team of 60 athletes to compete in all 10 sports, including 31 women. The Winter Games will be held from February 14-28, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. The first Winter Games took place in 1924, when Kenneth Kennedy, the sole representative, participated in speed skating. He came 33rd in both the 1500 m and 5000 m, near the bottom of the standings. He was entirely on his own; no Australian support staff were in attendance, even though the AOF officially sanctioned Kennedy’s entry. The Olympics were then halted due to the outbreak of World War II, and Australia did not send a team to the 1948 Winter Games, but has competed at every Winter Olympics since, sending nine athletes to the 1952 Olympics. There were five skiers, two cross-country and three downhill—who either failed to finish or whose results were unknown—three figure skaters and one speed skater. Adrian Swan and Nancy Burley, who finished 10th and 14th in figure skating, respectively, were the only two Australia competitors to place in theTop 20, although neither placed in top half of the field.

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