Beijing Paralympics: Disappointing medal haul defended as blame centres on our Covid restrictions

Australia’s worst Winter Paralympics performance since the 1988 Austrian Games has been blamed solely on one area which was not replicated by other countries overseas.

BEIJING, CHINA - MARCH 11: Ben Tudhope of Team Australia competes in the Men's Banked Slalom Snowboard SB-LL2 during day seven of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics at Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park on March 11, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Snow Australia chief executive Michael Kennedy has defended Australia’s worst result at a Winter Paralympic Games in 34 years as a by-product of domestic Covid-19 restrictions that were not replicated overseas.

Kennedy warned Snow Australia, which alongside the Australian Institute of Sport runs the high-performance pathways for snow sports in the country, would be left playing catch-up after “two lost years of talent development”.

“No it’s not disappointing when you consider our athletes have not been able to get on the snow,” Kennedy told News Corp of Australia’s sole bronze medal in Beijing.

“Our Para athletes simply weren’t able to travel. When you compound that with two domestic seasons where we’ve had complete border closures and shutdowns of resorts for long periods of time, our athletes have missed enormous amounts of time on snow, so our expectations were tempered by that.”

Following the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Snow Australia took control of the high performance program that was previously run by Paralympics Australia.

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Australia’s Ben Tudhope competes in the banked slalom SB-LL2 in Beijing. Picture: AFP

The Australian Government invested close to $5 million in funding to Winter Paralympic sport for the four-year cycle following the 2018 Games in PyeongChang — $800,000 of which went directly to AIS grants for athletes — representing an increase of 73 per cent on the previous cycle.

Australia sent a team of 15 athletes to PyeongChang and left with four medals: one gold and three bronze. Seven athletes travelled to Beijing for a single bronze, won by Ben Tudhope in Snowboard Cross.

It represents Australia’s worst Winter Paralympics performance since a team of five failed to find the podium at the 1988 Games in Innsbruck.

Kennedy said domestic Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions meant Snow Australia was paying the way for coaches and athletes to be in camp at Jindabyne without being able to train, or travel for international competition.

Meanwhile, athletes such as Para-snowboarder Sean Pollard were locked out entirely and any chance at qualifying for the 2022 Games was lost.

“Yes (the funding was spent). Because we’re supporting athletes. We had them in camp at Jindabyne and holding them there because they couldn’t get home — they just weren’t able to ski,” Kennedy said.

“We had times where we had athletes in camp, in lockdown, not able to ski. It still costs money to run the programs when you have coaches employed, athletes in camp, trying to run programs but the resorts are shut down because of the lockdowns.

Bronze medal winner Ben Tudhope celebrates on the podium during the medal ceremony.

“Sean Pollard would have absolutely been in the medal mix (in Beijing) but he’s from WA and has a young baby — he couldn’t travel in and out of Perth. It was absolutely impossible for him to continue in the sport because of the state lockdown.”

He added the extra funding from the Government was welcomed but could not make up for the two years of international isolation that kept Australia’s Winter Paralympians from competing overseas.

“Certainly we were able to invest more in the Paralympics in this current season than we normally would, because we had some carry forward over the past couple of years, but at the end of the day you can’t make up for lost time,” Kennedy said.

“When you’re competing against European nations and northern hemisphere nations that didn’t have anywhere near the same amount of restrictions and lockdowns, it just wasn’t a level playing field for us. But having said that, we did everything we could to give the athletes the best chance of performing and we’re really proud of what they achieved.

“I think we will feel the effects, there’s no doubt about it. When you’ve lost two years of talent development, whether that’s in the Olympic disciplines or Paralympic disciplines, as a sport regardless of what sport you are, you feel it.

“When you lose two years of development when the rest of the world is continuing to train and compete, it makes it that little bit more difficult. But having said that, we’ve got projects like the National Training Centre at Jindabyne that are on track — and there’s no doubt that we’ve got a track record of being able to develop athletes to medal caliber.

“We’re doing everything we can to recruit talent and fast-track and upskill athletes to try to get them to (Milan-Cortina 2026) in the best possible shape.

“We’ve always said the Paralympic programs have been well-supported and we would certainly encourage the same level of support as we try to rebuild and look to Cortina.”

Originally published as Beijing Paralympics: Disappointing medal haul defended as blame centres on our Covid restrictions