Vale Bill Day
Published Fri 21 Feb 2025
Snow Australia has recently been made aware that Bill Day, Snow Australia Medallist and three-time Olympic Alpine skier has passed away at the age of 90.
Bill's parents managed a chalet at Charlotte Pass, which started his skiing career.
After winning a qualification event in Australia, Bill made the Australian Team for the Oslo 1952 Winter Olympic Games at the age of 17. This was to be his first time representing Australia overseas.
He was one of the first three skiers to compete for Australia at the Winter Olympics, with the sole competitor from the 1936 team competing in speed skating.
Bill attributed his ski racing success to Austrian coach Leonhard Erharter who was appointed as a coach for the Australian Winter Olympic Team in the 1950s and had a long career as the head ski instructor at Thredbo.
Under Erhater's instruction, Bill went on to win numerous National titles, scoring podium results at the Inter-Dominion Championships and representing Australia at the Olympics two more times, at Cortina D' Ampezzo 1956 and Squaw Valley 1960.
In doing so, Bill became the first Australian Winter Olympian to participate in three consecutive Winter Games.
With a 52nd place in the Downhill and a 41st in the Giant Slalom, it was that performance at his third and last Olympics that he was most proud of.
Bill was nominated to the Australian Olympic team once more, in 1964, but he stepped aside, aged 30, to let a younger skier take his place.
Bill was presented with his Snow Australia Medal in 2020 in recognition of his participation at the Winter Olympic Games.
