From Bradbury to Bright: five of Australia’s best Winter Olympic moments | Martin Pegan
The sun-drenched nation is beginning to hold its own in winter sports having already enjoyed a number of memorable Olympic successes The most unlikely of triumphs that spawned its own catch phrase.A consistent contender in high-flying skiing and snowboard events.And a breadth and depth of talent that continues to grow as snow sports go global.Australia competed at 12 Winter Games with mixed results before finding a first spot on a podium and its place among the national snow and ice strongholds.Six gold, seven silver and six bronze medals have now been secured – with high hopes for more to be added to the collection at Milano Cortina – as well as some of the nation’s most celebrated Olympic moments.
Steven Bradbury accepted that his ageing legs lacked the speed and power to match the four other 1,000m short-track finalists in Salt Lake City in 2002,Luck had been on his side in the quarter-finals and again in the semi-finals when four skaters tripped up on the last lap to open up a path for him to breeze through,With the stakes even higher, the 28-year-old again rolled the dice and let the race for a medal play out in front of him,He was a comfortable distance off the pace until on the last corner of the last lap, a mere 15 metres from the finish, the four other skaters took each other out and crashed to the ice,Bradbury was left to raise his arms and glide across the line to claim Australia’s first Winter Olympics gold medal.
Fortune had favoured the brave, with more than a hint of misfortune for his opponents, and a new source of national pride had been born in “doing a Bradbury”.Australia had too often felt like a surprise guest at the Winter Olympics before Zali Steggall’s breakthrough individual medal in the prestigious slalom skiing event.The 23-year-old had earlier become the first Australian woman to win a World Cup alpine skiing event and was ranked No 6 heading into Nagano 1998.But her bronze medal – while finishing in 1m 32.67s and only 0.
27s behind gold – was the biggest sign yet that the sun-drenched nation could compete on snow and ice, and enough to encourage improved funding in the future for elite winter sport athletes.Alisa Camplin became Australia’s second Winter Olympics gold medallist shortly after Bradbury’s breakthrough triumph at Salt Lake City 2002.The ex-gymnast did it the hard way as she defied doctors’ advice and landed a pair of triple-twisting, double backflip jumps with both her ankles fractured.Camplin added a bronze medal four years later, while Lydia Lassila overcame her own horror injuries to put Australia back on top of the podium in the same event at Vancouver 2010 and earned her own bronze in Sochi.An unlikely strength in freestyle skiing had its affirmation with hopes the legacy will extend to in Milano Cortina.
Before Bradbury etched his name in global sporting folklore, the speed skater was a key part of the quartet that made its own history when claiming Australia’s first Winter Olympics medal at Lillehammer 1994.The 5,000m short-track relay team – that also included Kieran Hansen, Andrew Murtha and Richard Nizielski – backed what would later become a strategy to fill the bucket of national pride, as they prioritised staying upright over battling for higher honours.Dale Begg-Smith’s change of allegiance from Canada to Australia as a teenager, and three years without competition on the way to citizenship, paid off when he triumphed in the moguls at Turin 2006 at the age of 21.The tech entrepreneur added to his medal collection four years later with silver in the city of his birth, Vancouver, amid claims of biased-judging in favour of other hometown skiers.Torah Bright took a different sort of gamble on the way to Olympic glory, after Australia’s 2010 flag bearer crashed on her first run in the snowboard halfpipe final.
With pressure mounting on the 23-year-old, she then nailed a high-risk, high-scoring run to grasp the nation’s first medal – a gold – in an Olympic snowboard event.Following up with a silver medal in the same event at Sochi 2014 might leave most defending champions with a tinge of regret.But Bright celebrated with a huge grin as she joined Begg-Smith as Australia’s most successful Winter Olympian to date.
What are the odds? The RBA has raised interest rates – for no real reason other than to meet the desires of speculators | Greg Jericho
Has there been an interest rate rise more desired by some economists and commentators despite no real reason, than the one pushed for on Tuesday? Alas, the Reserve Bank listened to the noise and felt compelled to raise the cash rate to 3.85%, but one wonders if they listened more to the noise of the commentariat than the data.In Tuesday’s announcement, the RBA monetary policy board barely changed anything from its December statement.In December the board thought: “While inflation has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022, it has picked up more recently”. Now it says: “While inflation has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022, it picked up materially in the second half of 2025
UK shoppers buy more fruit and yoghurt in healthy start to 2026
Britons started 2026 by buying more healthy food such as fruit and yoghurt as they attempted to hit new year health goals, while grocery price inflation eased to the lowest level since April, research has shown.Annual grocery inflation fell back to 4% in the four weeks to 25 January from 4.7% in December, offering some relief for shoppers, according to a monthly snapshot of the grocery sector from the research company Worldpanel by Numerator.Consumers turned to healthy eating, it said, with sales volumes of fresh fruit and dried pulses up 6% year on year, while fresh fish was up 5%, poultry 3% and chilled yoghurt 4%. Cottage cheese sales jumped by 50% and it was bought by 2
UK privacy watchdog opens inquiry into X over Grok AI sexual deepfakes
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‘Swagger’ and mindset change is key for England in Six Nations glory chase
England will embrace the expectation surrounding their bid to end the wait for a Six Nations title, according to Tommy Freeman. The centre says his side will “have a bit of swagger” during the Championship.Accusations of English arrogance, particularly from their Six Nations rivals, are nothing new, but the best England sides have not wanted for self-belief and Freeman says they intend to puff out their chests as they seek to extend their 11-match winning run.Such confidence is reflective of the mood in the camp. Steve Borthwick has told us repeatedly how he expects Wales to play on Saturday and has challenged England to ensure they are in the hunt for the grand slam on Super Saturday – the final round of the championship on 14 March – when they face France in Paris, urging supporters to “flood across the Channel”
England beat Sri Lanka by 12 runs in third T20 to seal 3-0 series win – as it happened
Theekshana c Dawson b Bethell 2 Bethell the hero! Denied a fourth wicket by a review, he soon induces a top edge which is safely held by Dawson at backward point. England win the match by 12 runs and complete a clean sweep. It’s a white-ball whitewash!“That was awesome,” says Harry Brook. “One of the best wins I’ve ever had… Sixteen overs of spin – to do that to a Sri Lankan team in their own country is awesome… It’s been an awesome tour.”He receives the trophy, which, as in the ODI series, is much the same size as the one for the Champions League in football
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