The Story of the Most Surprising Gold Medal: Steven Bradbury | Olympics on the Record

There's Steven Bradbury, first on the left, lining up for the final of the men's 1,000m speed-skating event at Salt Lake City. He was competing in his first Olympic men's final at the age of 30, a career highlight for a veteran athlete who had paid his dues in a tough and dangerous sport. Bradbury had been in the speed skating game for 12 years, travelling the world representing Australia in numerous international championships, including three Olympic Winter Games. Along the way, he had endured a near-fatal encounter with the sharpened steel of an opponent's skates and a high-speed collision with a wall. Hard knocks, lack of funding, lack of recognition - it's tough being an Australian speed skater. Bradbury is from tropical Queensland, where young athletes are not exactly queuing up to take part in winter sports, opportunities being somewhat limited. "Skating?! It's just a waste of good ice!" When Bradbury started out in the early 1990s, Australians had yet to trouble the scorers when it came to medals at the Winter Games. They preferred to pursue other avenues of individual success. It wasn't as if Bradbury had nothing to show for it. Without quite reaching the pinnacle of his sport, he had already done more than any individual to advance the cause of speed skating in Australia. And when Bradbury emerged as a skater of international class, he inspired a generation of Australians - well, four to be precise - to take on the world. At Lillehammer 1994, Bradbury led his Aussie team-mates - Richard Nizielski, Andrew Murtha and Kieran Hansen - into unknown territory. The men's 5,000m relay final. For the first time, Australia were on the medals board at the Winter Games. First Olympic medal for Australia at the Olympic Games. And yet Bradbury did not feel entirely fulfilled. He wanted to compete with the very best. He wanted to win an individual medal. And away from the relay, Lillehammer had been a personal disappointment, as was Nagano 1998... ..and Salt Lake City 2002. Only the 1,000m event remained. Bradbury won his preliminary heat. He then finished third in the quarterfinal but got a lucky break when the second-place finisher was disqualified for obstruction. Among a stronger field in the semifinal, our Aussie hero hung around the back, waiting for a break and then... ..a miracle. Second place and, for the first time in his long career, Steven Bradbury had reached an Olympic final, already the best individual performance at the Winter Games by an Australian skater. Bring this on. His chances of a medal were still between slim and none... ..because these were the guys with their eyes on the top prize. Bradbury had one strategy in mind - hang in there and hope. Ready to go now and we'll know in 90 seconds who gets the coveted gold medal. They're off at the start now and just a little bit of jockeying for position. Soo from Korea on the inside, Turcotte from Canada on the outside. Remember, nobody necessarily needs to go in front, you want to see what's happening with the skaters in front of you. Ohno there looking to move on the inside, then dropping back. You've got basically a four-man pack now with Bradbury in fifth. Turcotte quite comfortable just ahead of Li and Li's got himself in a good position and again Soo goes on the inside for the lead. The Korean in the bright blue and yellow, easy to spot, and it's Soo now in the lead now with six laps to go. And then again, Ohno again on the inside trying to get some position. Looks like he wants to make a move but he's sitting now behind Soo, ahead of Li and Turcotte, Bradbury in fifth from Australia. Now they're starting to stretch out a little bit, the field taking shape... ..and Ohno moving up on the outside. Soo sees him coming but Ohno, there's nothing Soo can do about it. Ohno goes wide and then cuts back in front. And now Ohno, Li has passed Soo, Ohno was in second, Soo in third, two laps to go. Bradbury way off the pace and Li is now the challenger for Ohno. - Li coming up on the outside. - One down. - And Li has gone down. - Two down. - Ohno and Soo have collapsed. - Three down. - They're all down... - Four down. ..and Bradbury, who is in the perfect spot, skates over the line. You beauty! Australia's first-ever Winter Olympics gold medal, Steven Bradbury is the champion. Bradbury was having trouble taking in what had just happened. But when the result was upheld by the judges, he stepped forward onto the podium to hear Advance Australia Fair. Steven Bradbury retired from competitive speed skating in 2005. His autobiography is called Last Man Standing.

Channel: Olympics

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Keywords: Olympic Games, Olympics, IOC, Sport, Champion, on the record, record, record breaking, gold, yt:cc=on, PLOOTR, Last Man Standing, Steven Bradbury, التزلج السريع على مسار قصير, 短道速滑, Patinage de vitesse sur piste courte, Short Track, ショートトラック, 쇼트트랙 스케이팅, Patinação de velocidade em pista curta, Шорт-трек, Patinaje de velocidad en pista corta, Speed Skating, bradbury, fail, fall, crash, 2002, amazing, funny, shock, gold medal, ice skating, australia, winter, winter games, lucky, salt lake city, curious

Id: vN7ih576VYM

Length: 6min 21sec (381 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 28 2018