Generations unite at Breakfast of Champions
Published Thu 13 Jun 2024
A few hours before the NSW Premier officially opened the National Snowsports Training Centre in Jindabyne last week, Snow Australia hosted the Breakfast of Champions, bringing together stars of today, tomorrow and yesteryear.
A host of emerging New South Wales Institute of Sport athletes rubbed shoulders with modern day stars including Jakara Anthony and Valentino Guseli, with a number of Olympians and Paralympians alongside.
Four retired athletes were on hand to accept their Snow Australia Medals which are presented to those who finished in the top three at a FIS World Cup or World Championships, and/or represented Australia at the Olympic or Paralympic Winter Games.
Australia’s first-ever Olympic medallist on snow Zali Steggall was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2004 and 20 years on collected her Snow Australia Medal before admiring the facilities at the NSTC.
Steggall said the recognition was a fantastic way to connect the current successful era of snowsports with those who have come before.
“It’s lovely to see so many familiar faces, it’s lovely to see all the up-and-coming athletes and our current champions,” said Steggall.” I think winter sports is in a really good place, it’s exciting to know that there is that pipeline and that continuity.
“There’s a legacy from the past that’s really important to respect and honour and it’s lovely these Snow Australia Medals honour this journey we all moved through our years of competing.”
Steggall also reflected on how in retirement she could look back and see how lessons learned in sport have helped her through a successful career in law and politics, believing today’s athletes will also go onto great things following their careers.
“You appreciate that this is such a key and pivotal part of your life when you’re young, when you have the opportunity to really find what you’re capable of. Push your limits - really go for your number one goal. Reaching for excellence in sport internationally really is an amazing opportunity.
“But it’s not your whole life - it’s a period of your life then you get to move on; you get to apply a lot of the work ethic you developed into what you choose to do next and that’s also really exciting.”
One person who has certainly translated his athletic work ethic into life after sport is Ramone Cooper.
After becoming a Winter Olympian in 2010, Cooper has had an official role at every Winter Olympic and Winter Youth Olympic Games since, including Chef de Mission at Lausanne 2020 and Gangwon 2024.
Cooper welcomed the opportunity to get back to Jindabyne to accept his Snow Australia Medal and check out the NSTC.
“My wife and I live in Switzerland now and it’s very rare that you enter a room and know everybody, and I guess it’s a bit of a testament to what the winter sports community here is all about,” said Cooper. “It’s growing, but it’s very tight; there’s people who have been involved for a very long time and to see their vision come to fruition with this facility - it’s amazing.”
James Millar joked that the Paralympic journey which saw him become Australia’s first competitor in biathlon has finally brought him some silverware.
“Now when people ever ask if I got a medal for going to a Paralympic Games I can say ‘yes’, it just came 14 years later!” he said. “It’s a special feeling [receiving the Snow Australia Medal], but it’s also quite humbling. Snowsports in Australia, there’s no ego to it, it’s a big family.
“I look up there at everyone else who has a Medal and they feel like family. So it’s humbling to be a part of a really big family that has made it to elite sports competition in Australia.”
Cross Country skier Ben Sim, a Vancouver Olympian, said the Breakfast of Champions was a fantastic opportunity to reflect on his time in the sport and the people who remain part of the Australian snowsports community.
“Amazing to have that many people I’ve grown up with - some I haven’t seen in about 10 years as well - Snow Australia has been chasing me for a while to get this Medal so I’m really proud to get it today,” he said.
Sim said that in retirement he is no less a supporter than he was when competing and is enjoying the glory Australian snowsports is currently experiencing.
“I’m a fan!” he said. “I’ve known Jak since she was maybe eight years old; I’ve known Val since he was two years old,” he said. “I’ve been watching them come up through the ranks to be the best in the world in their sports.”
