Ian Chesterman slams ‘team outcast’ saga and says it hurt Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin’s chances

AUSTRALIA’S Winter Olympics chief Ian Chesterman says the “team outcast” controversy distracted the team.

AUSTRALIA’S Winter Olympics chief Ian Chesterman has said the “team outcast” funding controversy distracted the team in Sochi and affected snowboarder Alex “Chumpy” Pullin’s performance.

“I don’t think any man is an island,” said Chesterman, Australia’s chef de mission. “There were a lot of things going through Chumpy’s mind on the morning of his race.”

“It doesn’t help to have criticism land from the outside before your competition.”

Mr Chesterman spoke out when asked about rebel Olympic parent Bruce Brockhoff’s attack only hours before Pullin’s race.

News_Image_File: Alex Pullin leads in his quarterfinal before soon coming unstuck after colliding with another racer.

Mr Brockhoff, the father of snowboarder Belle Brockhoff, claimed Pullin had been favoured over other team members by being given special support, which was later revealed to be worth $500,000.

Divisions had been simmering within the team, with high-profile athlete Torah Bright leading a Twitter campaign in the weeks before Sochi under the hashtag “teamoutcast”.

“The Team Outcast issue was a distraction that we didn’t need,” Mr Chesterman said. “It was not an issue amongst athletes, who parked it before the Games, but more so parents.

News_Image_File: Belle Brockhoff (L) and Torah Bright are two athletes unhappy at the level of their funding.

“To those parents I say this: by all means support your children, but at Games’ time it is best if you are seen but not heard.”

Mr Chesterman responded to critics of the team’s performance, saying the team’s three-medal haul was equal to the record haul in Vancouver.

Two of the three medals in 2010 were gold, but in Sochi the team had to settle for two silvers and a bronze.

News_Rich_Media: Australia's Winter Olympics golden girl Torah Bright has admitted she is just 'happy to be out alive' as she celebrated her silver medal in the women's halfpipe in Sochi.

“The lucky breaks didn’t go our way ... in the past maybe they have,” Mr Chesterman said.

At the start of the final day of competition, Australia was sitting in 23rd spot on the medal tally, missing its target of being in the Top 15.

But Mr Chesterman said the team was well placed for South Korea in 2018, delivering 15 top ten results in Sochi, well up from the eight in Vancouver.

Of the 60-member team, 43 were rookies experiencing their first Olympics.

News_Image_File: Chesterman and Dale Begg-Smith of Australia speak to the media at a moguls press conference.

Mr Chesterman rejected calls for a HECS-style payback scheme for athletes’ funding, saying most Olympians “live off the smell of an oily rag”.

He said it was critical that a $6 million water jump park was built in Lennox Heads in northern New South Wales to develop aerial, mogul and slopestyle skiers.

“It should have been built after Vancouver, before Sochi – let’s not let it slip again,” he said. “We also need the halfpipe in Perisher.”