How four Beijing 2022 athletes lifted Australia’s Winter YOG Team

Courtesy Australian Olympic Committee

A passionate and undeniably deep bond to the Australian winter sport community saw Beijing 2022 Olympians Britt Cox, Taylah O’Neill, Jackie Narracott and Sami Kennedy-Sim all head to the Republic of Korea in support of the Australian Team at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympics.

Our nation’s largest ever Winter Youth Olympic Team of 47 athletes (comprised of 31 females and 16 males aged between 14 and 18) arrived in Gangwon to compete across the Biathlon, Figure Skating, Short Track Speed Skating, Ice Hockey, Snowboard, Cross-Country Skiing, Alpine and Freestyle Skiing disciplines in the space of two weeks in January.

They were backed up by 18 staff sent by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), which included Britt and Taylah, to provide team services, performance support, wellbeing, team operations, media and digital content. Plus Jackie and Sami who were on assignment with the International Olympic Committee as Gangwon 2024 Athlete Role Models.

The nature of the winter sport world makes opportunities rare for athletes and staff to connect in person, but make no mistake this is a community bound together by respect, admiration for the unique journeys each Australian winter athlete goes through and messages of encouragement exchanged around the world via social media.

That’s why Britt, Taylah and Sami – who all became retired athletes in 2022 – are motivated to keep immersing themselves around elite winter sport and to see the next generation prosper.

“Being there as a staff member gave me a much greater appreciation for the assistance, help and support when I was an athlete,” Britt, a four-time mogul skiing Olympian said.

“Seeing the athletes achieve the goals they set out for themselves, that was really exciting. It really confirmed that sport is in my blood and I always want to be involved and support Australian athletes. It feels like home for me.”

Taylah, a dual Olympian and Media Manager for the Gangwon 2024 Team, knew she could rely on Britt to create great outcomes for the athletes.

“Having Britt there, that was a big highlight. Britt worked in the AOC’s Media Team with me and as a Performance Manager she supported a lot,” Taylah said.

“I’ve known Britt since I was eight, we went to two Olympic Games together and over all four Olympic cycles she was competing in we were training and competing together. To have someone to lean on for support was really helpful.”

For all four it was their first-time accompanying athletes to an Olympic Games, mentoring and not competing, which didn’t make the experience any-less valuable or enjoyable.

“I've always wanted to work in sport. Now my knowledge of how an Olympics operates is a lot better,” Sami, who was an Australian Closing Ceremony Flag Bearer at Beijing 2022 and presented medals at Gangwon 2024 medal ceremonies, said.

“I didn’t want to inject myself into the athletes’ competition space and be a distraction. Instead I made myself a resource and a protective barrier for the athletes around the competition.

“For some athletes this might be their end goal and for others it could keep them engaged to pursue a career in performance. So I did some work with the IOC and FIS (International Skiing Federation) for the messaging around the purpose of Youth Olympics and why the Olympic movement is so amazing. For service providers that go to the Youth Olympics, often it’s their first Olympic experience too.”

Jackie was based primarily at the sliding track in Gangwon to talk to athletes from all different countries, but did get the opportunity to drop in to see the first all-Australian ice hockey team at a Youth Olympics get presented with their jerseys.

“That was so cool. I felt incredibly grateful to be asked to present their jerseys considering who else was there,” the Beijing 2022 skeleton silver medallist said.

“First female team, first ice hockey team… to be allowed into that inner sanctum was so cool. Hopefully I got across to them how cool it is to represent Australia, and as a Team that everyone was proud of them whether they’d finish first or last.”

The Winter Olympian cohort on the Australian Team also included Chef de Mission Ramone Cooper (Vancouver 2010), Mogul Skiing Coach Nicole Parks (Sochi 2014) and Digital Content Creator Dave Morris (Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, Pyeongchang 2018). Australia was one of 81 National Olympic Committees that sent a combined 1,900 athletes to compete in Gangwon.

“We all care enough about our experience and how good we had it, to pass it on to the next generation so they have it even better than we did,” Jackie said.

“It's such a testament to our community and our culture within winter sports,” Sami said.

“I think it was mutually beneficial for us as retired athletes, but the Team competing in Gangwon and the staff. Probably 18 months ago I couldn’t have imagined stepping into this role but definitely grateful for the opportunity,” Britt said.

Britt wore many hats in Gangwon while participating in the Athlete 365 Career+ Program where no two days were the same.

“A lot of my time was spent at the Alpensia Biathlon Centre. I’d be up early, getting a quick briefing with Taylah and Dave on the communication plans, meeting with other HQ staff and talk with the coaches I’d be working with that day about how I could best support them.

“Also collecting race bibs, sorting out start times, we had days where it was -24 degrees and I had to put tape on the athletes’ cheeks so they wouldn’t get frostbite. If someone had a broken pole I’d run and find a hacksaw from a different team so we could cut down the spare poles for the race and coordinated rifle storage for the athletes. During competition same sort of thing, but I could give them pep talks and get them where they needed to be, take photos, get quotes for media and train them for media.”

Taylah and Britt were operationally focused on delivering for the Youth Olympic Team and also took the time to address athletes that approached them for advice.

“Something we (Britt and I) did that I really enjoyed, which hopefully the girls got a lot out of, the ice hockey team asked Britt and I to share our stories and what we did as athletes when maybe we hadn’t performed and had to back it up and come out and be resilient,” Taylah said.

“They had to win their next game so it was quite a crucial moment in time for their campaign and they ended up going out and winning it which was super exciting. Our whole talk was about staying in it. For us in mogul skiing, our course is roughly 200m long and our message was ‘if we make a mistake at the top (of the course), we can’t think about it. We have to just see what’s in front of us and make the most out of the rest of the course’. That was something that took me a really long time to learn and something Britt also learned in her career.”

“One of the girls hurt her hand and got concussed, which ruled her out of the rest of the competition. When we spoke to the girls about resilience I mentioned my getting injured before Beijing (2022) and how that affected me. A young girl came up to me afterwards and said ‘when you said that my ears just perked up, because that’s how I feel right now’.”

Sami is now working for Snow Australia as their National Pathway & Sport Development Coordinator and Jackie is near the end of her season-long sabbatical from Skeleton and has off-season training coming up. Britt has started a Management Consulting Graduate position with a professional services firm and Taylah is a Public Relations Coordinator at the AOC.