Beijing Winter Olympics: Belle Brockhoff, Scotty James, Jarryd Hughes among Aussies to watch
The emergence of a new crop of stars has got everyone excited that next February’s Beijing Winter Olympics could turn out to be a magical winter wonderland for Australia.
Winter Olympics
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The days when Australians winning medals at the Winter Olympics are a novelty are long gone.
Aussies have won 15 medals on the biggest stage on snow and ice and if the experts are right, Beijing could be the best haul.
There’s no such thing as easy medals at the Winter Olympics but the emergence of a new crop of stars has got everyone excited that Beijing could turn out to be a magical winter wonderland for the team in green and gold.
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Belle Brockhoff
Snowboard Cross
Teamed up with Jarryd Hughes to win this year’s world championship title in the team snowboard cross, an event which has been added to the Olympic program for the first time in Beijing. Already a two-time Olympian, the Melbourne-born Brockhoff was ranked second in the world in the season before the pandemic struck.
Jarryd Hughes
Snowboard Cross
Was chosen to carry the flag at the closing ceremony at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea after winning a silver medal. A star performer from the moment he went on the international circuit, the Sydneysider also won a X Games gold medal and a mixed team world crown with Brockoff.
Scotty James
Snowboard Halfpipe
Australia’s flagbearer for the opening ceremony in 2018, James is snowboarding royalty and a megastar on the international circuit. The Victorian has won multiple world titles and X Games gold medals as well as a bronze medal in PyeongChang. Only 27, this will be fourth Olympics after he debuted at Vancouver in 2010 as a 15-year-old.
Laura Peel
Freestyle Aerial Skiing
Ranked number one in the world, Peel has won the crystal globe as the World Cup winner for each of the past two seasons. A master of the notoriously difficult triple back somersault, she also won this year’s aerial world championships to become the first Australian to win the title twice, after her previous win in 2015. From Canberra, Beijing will be her third Olympics.
Bree Walker
Bobsleigh / Monobob
A former hurdler from Melbourne who has made a seamless transition to winter sports, competing in both two-woman bobsleigh and monobob, which is being held at the Olympics for the first time. With her natural, explosive speed Walker has become an instant hit in the solo event, winning twice in the World Series circuit to end the season ranked number two.
Matt Graham
Freestyle Mogul Skiing
The silver medallist in moguls at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Graham has soared to the number one ranking after becoming the first Australian man to win the World Cup crystal globe for moguls since in 2007. Raised on the NSW Central Coast and set to compete at his third Olympics.
Tess Coady
Snowboard Slopestyle & Big Air
One of the sport’s rising talents, Coady was selected as a teenager to compete at the last Olympics but injured her knee in training and was unable to compete. She missed the entire next season but the Victorian is back to full fitness and making her presence felt at the sport’s top end. Just 20, she won a bronze medal in slopestyle at this year’s world championships in Colorado.
Jakara Anthony
Freestyle Mogul Skiing
Just missed out on an Olympic medal in PyeongChang when she placed fourth in the final but has maintained her great form since. Born in Tropical North Queensland but now based closer to the slopes, she won a silver medal at the 2019 world championships and finished the season ranked number two and took fourth at this year’s world title in Kazakhstan.
Danielle Scott
Freestyle Aerial Skiing
A former gymnast who was offered a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport when she was just seven years old. The Sydneysider turned her attention to aerial skiing when she was in her early teens and has been one of Australia’s most consistent performers ever since, winning bronze and silver medals at world championships and World Cup events, including one this year.
Valentino Guseli
Snowboard halfpipe
One of the hottest young prospects in snowboarding. Made his senior World Cup debut this year, aged 15, and was the highest qualifier in a star-studded field. Finishing eighth in the final. From the NSW South Coast, the now 16-year-old broke the legendary Shaun White’s world record for the highest air out of the halfpipe, reaching a dizzy 7.3 metres.
Aussies believe they can deliver Winter medal glory
The wait is almost over for sports fans suffering from Olympic withdrawal symptoms after the phenomenal success of the Australian team in Tokyo.
One of the unexpected benefits from the 12-month postponement of the Tokyo summer games is that the gap to the next Olympics has been slashed in half.
Wednesday marks the 100 day countdown to the opening ceremony for the Beijing Winter Olympics, which will run from February 4-20, 2002, and already there is a buzz in the air.
Like the Tokyo summer games, Beijing’s winter Olympics will take place in a perfect time zone for Australian viewers, ensuring another massive audience.
And there is a renewed sense that something special is about to happen with the Aussie competitors.
Australia has won at least one medal at each of the last seven Winter Olympics, including a record equalling three medals in 2010, 2014 and 2018.
With Beijing marking the 20-year anniversary of Australia’s first Winter Olympic gold medals – won by short-track speed skater Steven Bradbury and aerial skier Alisa Camplin – team officials are quietly hopeful that record may fall after assembling a squad overflowing with talent.
“We are really looking forward to Beijing,” the Australian team’s chef de mission Geoff Lipshut said.
“We‘ve got some athletes that are among the best in the world and they have been looking forward to having the chance to do something on the biggest stage of all.”
“Unlike Tokyo, when there was a lot of trepidation about whether the Games will happen we’re not feeling that about Beijing so we’re really hoping that a lot of Australians do tune in because we think it’ll be spectacular.”
NUMBER OF COMPETITORS
There will be no reductions in the number of athletes competing.
Exact numbers are still to be finalised but the total is expected to be around 2,800, made up of about 90 different countries. Russia is still banned because of its doping offences but its athletes will be allowed to compete under the acronym ROC as long there’s no mention of Russia or use of the national flag and anthem. North Korea is also currently suspended for refusing to attend the Tokyo Summer Games.
Australia is expected to send a team of between 40-42 athletes, which will be its third biggest ever.
EVENTS
There will be a record 109 gold medals up for grabs in Beijing after the addition of seven new events from the last Winter Olympics: women’s monobob, men’s and women’s big air and mixed team events in speed skating, ski jumping, aerials and snowboard cross.
There are 15 disciplines in all: Alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, speed skating. Pending qualification, Australia is expected to compete in 10-12 different sports.
VENUES
There are three different cluster sites for the Games, one in Beijing city and the other two in nearby mountains.
Beijing will host the ceremonies and most of the ice events, including figure skating, speed skating, curling and ice hockey, plus some snow events. They will use some of the same venues that were used for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, including the ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium where Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won his first gold medals as well as the “Water Cube’ where American swimmer Michael Phelps captured an unprecedented eight golds.
Yanqing is a northern suburban district about 80km from the city centre that can be reached in about 20 minutes by high-speed railway. It will host alpine skiing plus the sliding events (bobsleigh, skeleton and luge.
The Zhangjiakou zone in neighbouring Hebei province is about 220km from central Beijing, and 50 minutes by the railway line specifically built for the Games. This cluster will host snowboard, freestyle skiing, cross country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined and biathlon events.
ATHLETE PREPARATION
Everyone in contention for the Australian team will be based in either North America and Europe for the remaining months before the Games, training and competing in various qualifying events in the northern hemisphere, including China. Their usual Australian winter preparations were heavily disrupted by the lockdown.
QUARANTINE
Every member of the Australian team will be double vaccinated after Chinese authorities said anyone who isn‘t immunised will have to spend three weeks in quarantine on arrival in Beijing. All competitors will remain inside a “closed-loop management system” for the duration of their stay in China and will have to undertake daily Covid tests and abide by strict social distancing, including wearing masks, and will be banned from visiting tourism areas.
SPECTATORS
Foreign spectators, including VIP guests who have no active role in the Games. will not be allowed into China. But unlike Japan, which also banned locals from attending the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, Chinese authorities have agreed to let in from the country’s mainland, as long as they meet strict requirements around the COVID-19 countermeasures.”
MEDALS WON BY AUSTRALIA AT THE WINTER OLYMPICS
1994 Lillehammer: 1 bronze
1998 Nagano: 1 bronze
2002 Salt Lake City: 2 gold
2006 Turin: 1 gold and 1 bronze
2010 Vancouver: 2 gold and 1 silver
2014 Sochi: 2 silver and 1 bronze
2018 PyeongChang: 2 silver and 1 bronze
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