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Australia first competed in the Winter Olympic Games in 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and has participated in every games since, with the exception of the 1948 Games in St. Moritz.
Australia competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The team of 40 athletes was the largest ever for Australia, surpassing the team of 31 that participated at the 1960 Winter Olympics.
Australia created a female team in the sport of skeleton in the hope of winning a medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Physiologists Dr David Martin and Dr Angus Ross looked at a list of winter sports. They regarded the women's division of the sport as not currently being strongly competitive, therefore athletes in non-winter sports who possess the traits that would make a good skeleton athlete could win a medal.
Mellisa Hollingsworth is a retired Canadian athlete who competed from 1995 to 2014. She won the bronze medal in the women's skeleton event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
Gerda Weissensteiner OMRI is an Italian luger and bobsleigh pilot who competed from the late 1980s to 2006. Competing in six Winter Olympics, she won the gold medal in the women's singles luge event at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, and together with Jennifer Isacco she won the bronze in Turin in the two-woman bobsleigh at the 2006 Winter Olympics. She was the first Italian sportsperson to win Olympic medals in two disciplines.
Helen Lesley Upperton is a Canadian bobsledder who has competed since 2002. Upperton was born in Ahmadi, Kuwait as her parents involvement in the oil industry meant they traveled abroad. She holds dual citizenship of both Great Britain and Canada. Upperton won the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics after previously finishing fourth in the two-woman event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. In 2020 Upperton won a Canadian Screen Award for “Best Sports Analyst” for her coverage of the Bobsleigh World Championship event with Mark Lee. She went to high school at Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School and graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a BSc.
Michelle Steele is an Australian skeleton racer who has competed since 2004. She finished 13th in the women's skeleton event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
Noelle Pikus-Pace is an American retired skeleton racer who began her career in 2001. She won five medals at the FIBT World Championships, competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and won the silver medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Anna Orlova is a retired Latvian luger who competed at six Winter Olympics between 1992 and 2010. She won the silver medal in the mixed team event at the 2003 FIL World Luge Championships in Sigulda, Latvia and finished fourth in the women's singles event at those same championships.
Wilfried "Willi" Schneider is a German skeleton racer who competed from 1992 to 2002. He won two medals in the men's skeleton event at the FIBT World Championships with a gold in 1998 and a bronze in 1999.
Kaillie Humphries is a Canadian and American bobsledder. Representing Canada, she was the 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion in the two-woman bobsled and the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist with brakewoman Phylicia George. With her victory in 2014, she became the first female bobsledder to defend her Olympic title and was named flagbearer for the Olympic closing ceremony with brakewoman Heather Moyse.
Bree Schaaf is an American skeleton racer who competed from 2002 to 2007, then switched over to bobsled as a pilot from 2007 to 2014. Her best Skeleton World Cup finish was sixth at Calgary in November 2006.
Emma Lincoln-Smith is an Australian skeleton racer who has competed since 2004. Her best Skeleton World Cup finish was seventh twice.
The women's skeleton event at the 2010 Winter Olympics took place at the Whistler Sliding Centre on 18–19 February. The competition was won by British athlete Amy Williams, who set new course records for the track on her first and third runs. Williams, who had never before won a World Cup or World Championship event, became the first British athlete to win a solo Winter Olympic gold medal in 30 years. German sliders Kerstin Szymkowiak and Anja Huber won the silver and bronze medals respectively. Williams' teammate Shelley Rudman, who had won the silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and Canadian Mellisa Hollingsworth, both of whom had been expected to be in medal contention, were disappointed.
Joska Le Conté is a Dutch skeleton racer who has competed since 2006. Prior to starting in skeleton, she was a pole vaulter; when not competing, she works for the Royal Dutch Motorsport Association (KNMV) as a policy officer. Her skeleton coach is Martin Rettl, who works with a number of athletes from small nations under the name "Badass Skeleton Team". Although Le Conté earned a second quota for Dutch women's skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, she did not meet the stricter qualification standards of the Dutch Olympic Committee, and the second Dutch quota was reallocated to Switzerland.
Christopher Spring is an Australian-Canadian 4 x Olympic bobsledder who has competed since 2008. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, he competed for Australia in the two-man event. He switched allegiance to Canada later in 2010 and has since competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics for Canada.
Astrid Loch-Wilkinson , also known as Astrid Radjenovic, is an Australian bobsledder who has competed since 2003.
Melissa Perrine is a B2 classified visually impaired para-alpine skier from Australia. She has competed at the four Winter Paralympics from 2010 to 2022. At the 2015 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships, she won three gold, one silver and one bronze medals. At the 2018 Winter Paralympics, she won two bronze medals.
Laura Deas is a British sportswoman, best known as a skeleton racer on the World Cup circuit, representing the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association. She won bronze at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Jaclyn Narracott is an Australian skeleton racer who competes on the Skeleton World Cup circuit. She began international skeleton competition in 2012 when she joined the Australian national team; in 2011 she competed in bobsleigh for two European Cup races. Narracott has competed on the World Cup, the top level of international skeleton, since 2014; prior to that she competed on the European and North American Cups. She slides on a Bromley sled, and lives and trains in Bath, England, with the British bobsleigh and skeleton athletes. Australian Olympic track and bobsleigh athlete Paul Narracott is her uncle. She is in a relationship with British skeleton slider Dom Parsons.
References
- 1 2 3 "Melissa Hoar". 2014 Australian Olympic Team. Australian Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 13 February 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
- ↑ Melissa Hoar at the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation
