Australia’s youngest Winter Olympian Indra Brown: ‘I just love the feeling of flying’ | Martin Pegan
Having seemingly come from nowhere to become the No 1-ranked freestyle skier in a matter of months, the 16-year-old finds herself among the medal favourites at Milano CortinaAn overnight success tends to be built on years of patience and perseverance.Teenage ski sensation Indra Brown might just be the exception that proves the rule.Australia’s rising star of freestyle skiing had not even dropped into a halfpipe when the Winter Olympics were held in Beijing four years ago.Now she is launching out of them, landing her favourite trick – a cork 900, or “two-and-a-half spins and a flip while grabbing my skis” – and is among the favourites for a freeski halfpipe Olympic medal just days after turning 16.Brown burst on to the scene last December and quickly collected three medals in her first three World Cup events including gold on familiar terrain in Calgary.
She will head to Milano Cortina as No 1 in the women’s World Cup rankings, and the youngest member of the 53-strong Australian team,“I don’t want to go there with a position I want, or a medal I want,” Indra says,“I just want to go there and do my best and be really proud of what I’ve done,This is my first Olympics and I’m only 16,“If I can just go and be stoked with what I’ve done, that’s a medal in itself.
I came into this season just wanting to land some of my runs and just be proud of how I was skiing and I’ve definitely been doing that.”Speaking with Brown, sitting alongside her mother, Anne, in the week before the opening ceremony on 6 February, it is hard to imagine her being overawed by the occasion of the Olympics.Brown is at ease with the sudden attention that is coming her way, perhaps helped by her father’s own 15 minutes of fame late last year.Grant was dubbed “Captain Underpants” by neighbours after being awoken in the middle of the night and chasing down a pair of teenagers who had allegedly broken into the family’s Melbourne home.Indra was travelling back from a competition in New Zealand at the time but was soon shown the news stories and says it was “funny to watch from the background”.
The skiing phenom is now fine-tuning her runs and filling up her bag of tricks away from the spotlight at a training camp in Austria,A couple of weeks ago she was collecting more silverware at the prestigious X-Games in Aspen,She landed back-to-back 900s on her final run to finish second ahead of defending X-Games champion and two-time Olympic medallist Cassie Sharpe,Australia’s reigning Olympic moguls champion Jakara Anthony and two-time snowboard halfpipe medallist Scotty James are among the athletes Brown looks up to and hopes to meet in the village in the coming weeks,But it was Sharpe who helped her first glide into the pipe.
The Canadian won silver at Beijing 2022, falling narrowly short of defending the freeski halfpipe Olympic crown she claimed in Pyeongchang, not long before returning home to Calgary to coach some “groms” at the local ski hill.Brown and her family were living in the city at the time, and Anne has since had a laugh with Sharpe over a future rival being among the “hundreds of kids” at the spring ski camp.This article includes content provided by Instagram.We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies.To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'.
Anne and Grant stirred up an adventurous spirit in their four children from a young age with regular trips to the mountains for “hiking and biking”,Indra started skiing at the age of three during the family’s annual holidays at Mount Hotham in Victoria before their temporary, five-year move to Canada,Indra says it is “pretty cool” to now be sharing snow parks, pipes and podiums with skiers she grew up idolising,But her younger brother, James, remains her toughest competition,“He loves to push me,” she says.
“If he’s doing a trick, I want to be able to do it as well.We have such a good time just battling off each other.”Anne can’t recall a moment when she realised that Indra was overtaking her and Grant with her skills on the slopes, though she concedes with a smile that “my skis don’t leave the snow, so it wasn’t hard”.The family juggling act with Anne often being on the road with two children and travelling to ski competitions can be draining.But she is – mostly – grateful for the opportunity to watch up close as Indra fulfils her dreams, whether they are as lofty as competing in the Olympics or simply landing a new trick.
“I do get nervous,” Anne says.“I think whenever you see your kids compete in any sport or any activity, you’re a little bit nervous for them.I sort of trust in the process, really trust in what Indra and her coach are doing together, the practice and time they’ve put in, and their attention to detail for each of the tricks.I am relieved when she gets to the bottom though.”For Indra, time on the snow is anything but daunting.
Even when standing at the top of the halfpipe that will be more than seven metres high when the Olympic event is held in Livigno, a few deep breaths, visualising the run and tricks, and a “quick pep talk” to herself are enough to send her on her way.“I just love the feeling of flying and the airtime you get, landing high on the wall and just the effortless feeling,” she says.“It doesn’t even feel like you take off, then there’s just freedom to express yourself however you want.There’s no right or wrong way, so I just love that.”
Elon Musk had more extensive ties to Epstein than previously known, emails show
Elon Musk had more extensive – and more friendly – communications with the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein than previously publicly known, according to documents released on Friday by the Department of Justice. Emails in the files appear to show the two cordially messaging each other on two separate occasions to make plans for Musk to visit Epstein’s island.The documents include Musk and Epstein emailing in both 2012 and 2013 to determine when Musk should make the trip to Little St James. Neither exchanges appear to have resulted in Musk visiting the island, due to logistical issues.“Will be in the BVI/St Bart’s area over the holidays
What good is a social media ban when screens are rife in classrooms? | Letters
Your recent coverage of children’s screen use (How screen time affects toddlers: ‘We’re losing a big part of being human’, 22 January) highlights an issue that still receives remarkably little attention: the amount of screen time built into the school day. While politicians debate bans on social media for under‑16s, and teachers report children trying to swipe the pages of books, it is puzzling that the question of screen time in schools is left out of discussions.Every morning, most primary school children are greeted by an electronic whiteboard glowing in the classroom, often left on all day. Lessons are delivered as slides, tablets are used for activities, and many schools require homework to be completed online.When it rains, “wet play” means more screen‑based entertainment
AI-generated news should carry ‘nutrition’ labels, thinktank says
AI-generated news should carry “nutrition” labels and tech companies must pay publishers for the content they use, according to a left-of-centre thinktank, amid rising use of the technology as a source for current affairs.The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said AI firms were rapidly emerging as the new “gatekeepers” of the internet and intervention was needed to create a healthy AI news environment.It recommended standardised labels for AI-generated news, showing what information had been used to create those answers, including peer-reviewed studies and articles from professional news organisations. It also urged the establishment of a licensing regime in the UK allowing publishers to negotiate with tech companies over the use of their content in AI news.“If AI companies are going to profit from journalism and shape what the public sees, they must be required to pay fairly for the news they use and operate under clear rules that protect plurality, trust and the long-term future of independent journalism,” said Roa Powell, senior research fellow at IPPR and the report’s co-author
Apple reports massive spike in iPhone revenue, particularly in China
Apple released its first quarter earnings on Thursday, exceeding Wall Street’s expectations and seeing its revenue skyrocket 16% from the same time last year.“Apple is proud to report a remarkable, record-breaking quarter, with revenue of $143.8bn,” Tim Cook, the company’s CEO, said in a statement. “iPhone had its best-ever quarter driven by unprecedented demand, with all-time records across every geographic segment.”The tech titan’s reported revenue went far beyond analyst’s forecasts of $138
US regulators open inquiry into Waymo self-driving car that struck child in California
The US’s federal transportation regulator said Thursday it had opened an investigation after a Waymo self-driving vehicle struck a child near an elementary school in southern California last week, causing minor injuries.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the child in Santa Monica ran across the street on 23 January from behind a double parked SUV towards the school and was struck by the Waymo autonomous vehicle during normal school drop-off hours. The agency said there were other children, a crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles in the vicinity.The federal agency is opening a preliminary evaluation to investigate whether the Waymo AV exercised appropriate caution given its proximity to the elementary school during drop-off hours, and the presence of young pedestrians and other potential vulnerable road users. The agency said it plans to examine the vehicle’s “intended behavior in school zones and neighboring areas, especially during normal school pick up/drop off times, including but not limited to its adherence to posted speed limits” and will “also investigate Waymo’s post-impact response”
UK-based pair behind messaging app accused of giving data to Iranian regime
The creators of a messaging app accused of handing user data to the Iranian regime live on a windswept hill in a British coastal town, the Guardian can reveal.Hadi and Mahdi Anjidani are the cofounders of TS Information Technology, established in 2010 and now registered at the address of a tax accountancy in Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex. It is the UK branch of an Iranian software corporation, Towse’e Saman Information Technology (TSIT).The company makes popular computer games, a payment platform capable of helping Iranians skirt sanctions, and Gap Messenger, a sleek purple messaging app billed as an Iranian alternative to Telegram.But while Gap’s public profile says the app is encrypted and does not share its data with third parties, Iranian digital rights experts say their investigations contradict those claims
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