Australia Great Moment Winter Olympics


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I remember watching this with a friend and commenting that it would be hilarious is 2 of the other fell over, giving Bradbury a bronze. She and I were gobsmacked when 10 seconds later, everyone but Bradbury had fallen over!

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it is indeed now part of the vernacular. to do a bradbury. sat next to him on a plane once. humble nice guy.

but you might not know that the same thing happened in the semi final. and it was always the plan. seriously. in that race was someone who was supposedly the phelps of the ice and expected to win a treasure chest of gold. he won quite a few. was the unbackable favourite for this race.

his trainer, i think it was his father, said to steve B that he should keep out of the pack, try and stay close as he could (he was a rank outsider) and with luck and a few tumbles, he might just sneak into the final. exactly that happened. not sure if he won the semi but enough fell over that he got in. they could hardly believe their luck. his father then told him to do the same thing in the final, knowing he was no realistic chance in a genuine race. they were hoping that if he was incredibly lucky, he might get a bronze. but the odds were squillions to one.

and then whacko, over they went and it was Gold for us! woohoo.

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2002 Winter Olympics. Yes, many Australians remember Steve Bradbury's gold medal. Apart for the fact that it was practically Australia's first gold medal at the Winter Olympics, the way he won has made a permanent mark on Australia's sporting culture memory. It's up there with other Australian Olympic feats of the time, such as Cathy Freeman's 400m gold medal on the track at Sydney and Kieran Perkins gold medal win in the 1500m pool event at Atlanta, winning from lane 8.

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7 hours ago, JohnS said:

2002 Winter Olympics. Yes, many Australians remember Steve Bradbury's gold medal. Apart for the fact that it was practically Australia's first gold medal at the Winter Olympics, the way he won has made a permanent mark on Australia's sporting culture memory. It's up there with other Australian Olympic feats of the time, such as Cathy Freeman's 400m gold medal on the track at Sydney and Kieran Perkins gold medal win in the 1500m pool event at Atlanta, winning from lane 8.

not practically, john. that was our first gold. alissa camplin (not sure of the spelling or first name but think that is it) later won aerial gold for something in the same games.

it is also forgotten that although bradbury was not the class of others (including the four who fell over in front of him), he had been part of our first ever winter medal in 1994 in a relay team.

that perkins gold, considering all the circumstances, and the unbelievable performance he put in, remains for me, the greatest ever gold medal. certainly for us and possibly ever. what a champion.

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I watched both the final and the semi live which as was mentioned earlier remarkably followed the same script. It was amazing and unforgettable. 

I have met Steve on a couple of occasions  where he has been a guest speaker at a function.  He is a modest bloke and I recall him saying that although he wasn't a favourite at that Olympics, he was favourite at the pervious Olympics and was knocked out in similar fashion being bowled over by a rival 

 

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