| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Short track speed skating | ||
Representing  Australia | ||
 | 1994 Lillehammer | 5000 m relay |
Richard Nizielski is an Australian short track speed skater who competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics, in the 1994 Winter Olympics, and in the 1998 Winter Olympics.
He was born in Nottingham, Great Britain. He immigrated to Australia with his father Jerzy and mother Anne. They sailed on the Australis and arrived on 23 June 1971, in Perth. They settled in the suburb of Maylands, Western Australia. [1]
In 1991, Nizielski was part of the Australian quartet that won the 5,000 m relay at the World Championships in 1991 in Sydney.[ citation needed ] It was the first time that Australia had won a World Championship in a winter sport.
Australia's short track relay team went into the 1992 Olympics as world champions, but the team crashed in the semi-finals. [2] [3] The Australians were in third place when Nizielski lost his footing; they finished fourth and failed to reach the final. [2] [4] Nizielski competed in the individual 1,000 m event, but was eliminated in the first round, placing 21st out of 27 competitors. [5]
In 1994, Nizielski was part of the short track relay team won Australia's first Winter Olympic medal, a bronze. They scraped into the four-team final after edging out Japan and New Zealand to finish second in their semi-final. [6] They adopted a plan of staying on their feet as first priority, and remaining undisqualified and beating at least one of the other three finalists. [2] [7] During the race, the Canadians fell and lost significant time, meaning that Australia would win their first medal if they raced conservatively and avoided a crash. Late in the race, Nizielski was fighting with his American counterpart for track position for the silver medal, but took the safe option and yielded, mindful of the lost opportunity following the crash in Albertville. [2] Nizielski recollected "At the last change [American] Eric Flaim got a good push-away and he stepped underneath my feet and stopped me. I thought, well I'm not going to fight him for this. I didn't want to let the team down. And I was very aware that I had taken a fall in Albertville. I just wanted to get through and get the medal." [2] Thus Steven Bradbury, Nizielski, Andrew Murtha and Kieran Hansen became Australia's first Winter Olympics medallists. [2]
Nizielski was also entered in the 500 m and 1,000 m individual events. In the first event, he won his heat in a time of 44.86 s and then came fourth in his quarterfinal in a slower time of 45.57 s to be eliminated. He was classified tenth overall out of 31 competitors. [8] In the 1,000 m event, Nizielski came second in his heat in a time of 1 m 32.42 s. He came fourth in his quarterfinalin a time of 1 m 29.93 s and was eliminated. He came 13th out of 31 competitors. [8] [9]
Bradbury, Nizielski and Kieran Hansen, three of the quartet that won Australia's maiden medal in 1994 returned with new teammate Richard Goerlitz, and there were hopes that they could repeat their Lillehammer performance. However, in their qualifying race, they placed third in a time of 7 m 11.691 s and missed the final by one place, even though they had been two seconds faster than their medal-winning performance in 1994. They completed the course four seconds slower in the B final and came last in the race, and thus last out of eight teams overall. Nizielski did not compete in the individual events. [10] [11]
Nizielski was Australia's flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
Based in Western Australia at the Western Australian Institute of Sport, Nizielski was named the Athlete of the Year for 1993–94. He was the first Western Australian to compete at the Winter Olympics. [12]
In retirement Nizielski went into the theatre industry. He works for Way Out Theatreworks, an award-winning company in Brisbane. According to their website, Nizielski is a "trained Fight Director. He has performed in tv, commercials and corporate entertainment. Richard is a trainer at The Actors Conservatory". [13] Nizielski also became a golf instructor and writes articles about biomechanical and sporting posture for golf magazines. [14] He remains involved in helping to mentor the next generation of Australian speed skaters. [15]
Steven John BradburyOAM is an Australian former short track speed skater and four-time Olympian. He won the 1,000 m event at the 2002 Winter Olympics after all of his opponents were involved in a last-corner pile-up. He was the first athlete from Australia and also the Southern Hemisphere to win a Winter Olympic gold medal, and he was also part of the short track relay team that won Australia's first Winter Olympic medal, a bronze in 1994.
Neil Brooks is an Australian former sprint freestyle swimmer best known for winning the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow as part of the Quietly Confident Quartet. Brooks was as much known for his swimming achievements as he was for disciplinary incidents, and he often found himself in conflict with officialdom and threatened with sanctions.
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 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, winning its first two gold medals in the Winter Games. It was the nation's best performance at the Winter Games prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Australia competed at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. 23 athletes competed, participating in alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, figure skating, freestyle skiing, luge, short track speed skating, and speed skating. Freestyle skiing and short-track speed skating were medal events for the first time, and Australia has competed in these events in every games since. Australia's best result at these games was seventh in the 5000 metres short-track relay.
Australia competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.
Zali Steggall is an Australian politician, lawyer and former Olympic athlete. She has been independent member for Warringah since the 2019 Australian federal election when she defeated the incumbent, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
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Mark Lyndon Tonelli, whose birth name was Mark Lyndon Leembruggen, is an Australian former backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold in the 4×100-metre medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as a makeshift butterfly swimmer in the self-named Quietly Confident Quartet. Tonelli unofficially led the relay team and was an athletes' spokesperson who fought for the right of Australian Olympians to compete in the face of a government call for a boycott to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
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The Quietly Confident Quartet was the self-given name of the Australian men's 4 × 100 metres medley relay swimming team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and, through the 2016 Olympics, the Australian victory remains the only occasion the United States has not won the event at Olympic level since its inception in 1960. The quartet consisted of backstroker Mark Kerry, breaststroker Peter Evans, butterflyer Mark Tonelli, and freestyler Neil Brooks. The team was nominally led by its oldest member Tonelli, who was 23 and was also a spokesperson for the Australian athletes' campaign for their right to compete at the Olympics against the wishes of the Fraser government. The team was seen as an unlikely prospect to win; all four of the swimmers had clashed with swimming authorities over disciplinary issues and three experienced suspension or expulsion from the Australian team during their careers.
The men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 1980 Summer Olympics was held in Moscow, Soviet Union on 24 July 1980 in the Olympiski Sports Complex. A total of 13 teams participated in the event. These were split over two heats held in the morning of that day, and the eight fastest teams qualified for the finals held in the evening of the same day.
Kieran Hansen is an Australian short track speed skater who competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics, in the 1994 Winter Olympics, and in the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Andrew Murtha is an Australian short track speed skater who competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics and in the 1994 Winter Olympics.
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