Judy Forras and members of the 1964 Alpine Olympic team honoured with the Snow Australia Medal
Published Tue 30 Jun 2020
Snow Australia today announced five more recipients of the Snow Australia Medal, the legacy award that celebrates the careers of the most successful Australian snow sports athletes. Simon Brown, Judy Forras, Ross Milne, Christine Smith and Peter Wenzel were all members of the Australian Alpine skiing team that participated in the 1964 Olympic Winter Games. Two-time Winter Olympian Peter Brockhoff, who was announced as Snow Australia Medal recipient last week, was also part of the team.
Held in Innsbruck, Austria, the 1964 Olympic Winter Games were marked by record crowds and an almost unprecedented lack of snow. The Austrian Army had to work tirelessly before and during the Games to transport large masses of snow onto the Olympic mountains, in order to make competition possible and allow an estimate of one million spectators to watch the Olympics unfold.
Innsbruck 1964 also marked one of the greatest Australian winter sports tragedies, as then 19-year-old Ross Milne tragically passed away after suffering fatal injuries from a fall during a training run. The accident sent ripples through the close-knit team and was felt strongly by Australian athletes. Peter Brockhoff withdrew from the Downhill event, unwilling to compete on a course where he had just lost one of his best friends. Other Australian skiers decided to race anyway, to honour Milne’s memory and show that the level of Australian skiing was adequate for such an important stage - something which had been controversially questioned by some locals.
Snow Australia Medal Recipients |
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Simon Brown |
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Judith 'Judy' Forras 1932 - 1996 Discipline: Alpine Skiing Olympic participations: Innsbruck 1964 Medal awarded in: 2020 |
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Ross Milne 1944 - 1964 Discipline: Alpine Skiing Olympic participations: Innsbruck 1964 Medal awarded in: 2020 |
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Christine Smith 1946 - 1979 Discipline: Alpine Skiing Olympic participations: Innsbruck 1964 Medal awarded in: 2020 |
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Peter Wenzel |
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Judy Forras was among the ones who competed, but she only managed a 40th place in the Giant Slalom as her best result.
“It was very hard for all of them,” remembers Marika Forras, Judy’s daughter. “It was a very sad time. Mum didn’t get to put in her best result, unfortunately.
“But mum loved the Olympics. She was so proud to represent Australia. She loved it.”
A national ice-skating champion before she decided to embrace Alpine skiing, Judy met ski-instructor and future husband Ernest Forras at Mt Buller in 1952. Ernest leveraged Judy’s natural talent and the well-developed balance she carried over from skating, coaching her to become a successful skier.
Results in the new discipline arrived soon. After winning her first Australian national title in 1957, Judy Forras started racing in Europe, eyes fixed on her Olympic goal: to compete at the Squaw Valley 1960 Winter Games. But the Australian Olympic team had only one spot for a female Alpine skier and selection was to be decided through the National Championships.
“Back then you had to win the National title to be considered to go to the Olympics. Christine Davy beat mum at the Nationals that year, so they took her. Mum was really upset about that. She was in tears,” says Marika Forras.
Not a woman to let a temporary setback derail her ambitions, Judy Forras came back with a vengeance. After giving birth to her third and fourth children, she went on to win multiple titles at State and National level including the 1963 Downhill and Alpine Combined, eventually achieving selection for Innsbruck 1964. Forras was 32 when she made her Olympic debut alongside 17-year-old teammate Christine Smith. She also got to share her Olympic experience with Brockhoff, Brown and Wenzel, who had all skied with her at Mt Buller in the ‘50s.
“She stayed very good friends with Peter, Simon and all her teammates. She loved being there, she loved the family.
“The winter community was a family, they were all looking after each other and they had each other's back. The ‘60s and the ‘70s were definitely like that,” says Marika Forras.
Marika is the third of Ernest and Judy’s children - the others being Danielle, Toni and Suzanne. A beautiful family Judy was really proud to have built while pursuing her sporting achievements. In fact, Judy was one of the very few Australian women who competed at the Winter Olympics while having a family - something which was uncommon in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
A loving mother, Judy was also a fierce competitor and a tough athlete.
“Back then you had to walk up and ski down, walk up and ski down - that’s where she got her toughness. That, and she grew up with a very strong work ethic from farming,” continues Marika.
One of the most impressive results of Judy Forras career was her participation in the Hahnenkamm races, the event organised on the slopes of the ‘Streif’ in Kitzbuehel, Austria. Calgary 1988 Winter Olympian Peter Forras still remembers the stories his Aunty Judy used to tell him while growing up:
"The most incredible story that she told me about her ski racing days was that she got to race on the fabled 'Streif' Hahnenkamm, the world's most renowned and challenging downhill course.
"They stopped allowing women to race on this course in 1961, so I'd imagine she may have been the only Australian woman to complete the course."
Widely regarded as one of the fastest and most technical courses of the Alpine skiing circuit, the Streif was deemed too dangerous for women’s competition in 1961 and hasn’t seen a women’s race since. The women’s downhill was removed from the race program and the 1962 FIS Women’s World Cup event assigned to the Austrian resort of Bad Gastein.
"To think that she did that on the equipment of that era, and with no snow grooming, is quite astounding.
"I think I kept that in the back of my mind at every difficult race that I had to step up to. If Aunty Judy could get down the 'Strief' I'll be able to do this!" Peter Forras says.
A caring aunt and an inspiration for her entire family, Judy Forras was particularly proud to see her nephew reaching his own Olympic dream and compete at the Winter Olympcis in 1988.
"The advice she always gave me was 'go get'em Peterkin' with her adoring smile, cheer and good feelings," adds Peter Forras.
"I'm sure she was as proud of me as I was of her."