Lydia Lassila the shining star in Australia’s aerial troupe of death-defying stunts at Sochi Games

IT MAY just go down as the greatest act of recruiting in Australian sports history. And Lydia Lassila is in hot form.

IT MAY just go down as the greatest act of recruiting in Australian sports history – the equivalent of plucking three future star footballers from a schoolboy carnival.

Lydia Lassila defends her Vancouver gold medal at the Sochi Winter Olympics on Friday night, and the 32-year old looks in red-hot form.

Lassila competes at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

But Lassila has an incredibly strong team of aerial skiers alongside her at these Games, and there’s a great story about how they came together.

The other women on the Australian aerials team are Danielle Scott, Laura Peel and Sam Wells, and they were hand-picked by Australian aerial skiing great Jacqui Cooper.

Cooper competed at five Olympics, her last at Vancouver 2010. She had a broken elbow in 2006 and while in rehabilitation, the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia decided to keep her busy.

The Institute had sent out feelers seeking expressions of interests from gymnasts and other athletes who might be interested in switching to aerial skiing.

Twelve girls applied and Cooper was asked to evaluate them. After assessing their applications, Cooper thought three of them might have what it takes.

You guessed it, those three are the women alongside Lydia Lassila in Australian colours on Friday night – Danielle Scott, Laura Peel and Sam Wells.

So what, exactly, did Cooper see that she liked so much?

“I looked for elite-level gymnasts who mentally could be away from their parents 12 months a year, who were organised, competitive and were in physically good body shape, not too tall and not too short” Cooper says.

“The skiing part we never worry about.”

Laura Peel jumps during a Sochi test event.

Australia has a history of turning former gymnasts into aerialists, then teaching them to ski. Lydia Lassila herself is one such case. But in Laura Peel, had the rare combination of a skiing gymnast.

The 24-year-old Canberra was a snow-lover from a young age and has become a consistent performer in aerials, with a 5th, 6th, 7th and 12th in the in the 2013/14 World Cup season.

“She could be my stunt double,” Cooper says of Peel. “She was a level 10 gymnast who has been skiing since 10, she’s really diligent in everything she does and is ultra-hard on herself. She was a no-brainer.”

Born and raised in Newcastle, Sam Wells is a former gymnast whose best results are fourth in a World Cup event and sixth at the World Championships last year.

“She’s not as naturally gifted as Lydia but she is forever working harder than anyone else,” Cooper says. “I also like her physically. She’s shorter than most skiers, and shorter skiers tend not to blow out their knees as often.”

The pick of the trio is probably Danielle Scott, a 23-year-old former gymnast, diver and soccer player who recently finished second in a recent World Cup event – denying the super-strong Chinese team a podium clean sweep.

“What I like about Danni is she’s really easy-going,” Cooper says. “When you have a mindset that can go with the flow, it really pays off. Her personality really suits the sport and technically she’s like a genius. There are not many people who can do four twists in a single somersault.”

Speaking of quad twists, Lydia Lassila pulled off a quad-twisting triple somersault in training this week at Sochi. She’s the only woman ever to do such a feat and it’s safe to say her competitors were awestruck.

Lassila speaks during an Austraian Olympic team press conference in Sochi.

Lydia Lassila is definitely the one to beat on Friday night. But don’t rule out the other Aussies. Whatever happens, Jacqui Cooper will be one proud lady watching from Melbourne in the early hours of Saturday morning.

“I’m like the mother hen, I couldn’t be prouder of my girls,” she says.

“I’m a corporate events speaker now and someone recently asked me what were the greatest three things I’ve done.

“I said ‘Danielle, Sam and Laura’. They are the three things I’ve given back to the sport.”