2022 Winter Olympic Games dream closes in for Bree Walker
Winter Olympic dream comes true for bobsleigh ace - but only after the heartache of having her summer Games dream harpooned.
Olympics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Olympics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
While Bree Walker once harboured ambitions to represent Australia as an Olympian, but for most of her life she never dreamt it would be as a Winter Olympian.
The daughter of North Queensland parents, Melbourne-raised Walker will make her Games debut representing Australia in bobsleigh and monobob, an event being held at the Olympics for the first time. The Games start on February 4 in China.
Walker, 29, is coming off a gold medal winning performance at a World Series event in Germany during December.
Walker was once an elite 400m runner and US College scholarship holder striving for the Olympic dream.
RELATED LINKS
FIRST OLYMPIANS CONFIRMED FOR GAMES
“(But) I was watching the Rio Olympics (2016) and wondering how I was going to achieve my Olympic dream,’’ Walker said.
Walker asked herself some “hard questions’’ and came to the conclusion “my talents lay elsewhere’’.
Her athletics coach at the time, Peter Fortune, who mentored Cathy Freeman to the Sydney 2000 400m gold medal, agreed with her and designed a training program to help her progress toward the sport of bobsleigh.
“There was a talent ID camp (bobsleigh) and I spoke to my coach Peter Fortune and he kind of invented the idea that my talent lay elsewhere,’’ she explained.
“He switched my training around and I went to Sydney to compete in the talent ID camp and I achieved the standard.’’
She initially gathered experience in 2016 trialling the sport in Whistle and then in 2017 Walker started competing in North America and on the European Cup circuit.
Walker said coming from a “warm nation’’ like Australia, she and her teammates were initially a “bit of a novelty.’’
“But I think over the last few years our team has made our mark in the sport as a competitive team that is taken very seriously,’’ she said.
Walker spent much of last year in Germany training with the German team and rather been seen as a “novelty, I am seen as a rival and I like that.’’
All this from a young woman who was “not a snow kid’’.
Walker was an unlucky omission from the 2018 Olympics when the sport’s national governing body did not nominate them to the Australian Olympic Committee to compete at the Games.
But Walker said that disappointment only made her stronger. “Missing the 2018 Winter Games shaped me as the athlete I am today.
“Whatever obstacle you throw at me, I knew I was going to make sure I was 100 per cent for the next Olympics.’’
Originally published as 2022 Winter Olympic Games dream closes in for Bree Walker
How Little Aths, Steve Hooker’s coach launched Nina Kennedy
The Olympic gold medallist reveals how she was discovered, what was going through her head during the pole vault final, and why the future is bright for Aussie track and field.
NBA superstar open to shock Boomers switch
Superstar Kyrie Irving, who was born in Australia, has discussed the shock possibility of joining the Boomers for the LA Olympics.
Aussie swimmer reveals surprising regret
A swimmer has shared why after taking home gold she’s getting her Olympic tattoo removed.
How $75 can get you a shot at an Olympic gold medal
Emelia Surch is the best kept secret in Australian sport – and good judges rate her a genuine medal chance at the LA Games in four years time. And a radical funding plan could give the public a shot at sharing in her Olympic dream.
‘You can’t go back there’: Broncos godfather’s Olympic venue warning
The Broncos happily called QSAC Stadium home for a decade but the man behind the move has a different view on the Olympics.
‘We are incredibly excited’: Next Gen rugby 7s women turning heads
There were blowouts, close calls, a hot boot and multiple try-fectas in the opening round of the Next Gen Sevens rugby series in Sydney. Stars, great photos and Rd 1 result wrap.