Youth Olympic gold medallist Josie Baff named as 2021 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship Holder

A total of 32 young athletes from around the country will receive scholarships, as part of a greatly expanded Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Mentoring Program, which began in 2006 and is now supported by Australian Government funding from Sport Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).

Six of those young athletes, all from different sports, will each receive a $10,000 sporting grant and be personally mentored by Australian sporting champions including Olympic gold medallists, national captains and World Cup winners.

Among those named as Tier 1 Scholarship holders is snowboard rising star Josie Baff.

Josie won Australia’s first gold medal at the Winter Youth Olympic Games earlier this year. The historic win followed a successful 2019, where Josie won the Canadian Junior Nationals and also finished on the podium at the Australian New Zealand Cup and NorAm.

Josie said she is incredibly humbled to be named as one of six recipients in 2021.

“It is so powerful to have access to one-on-one mentoring with Susie O’Neill who is such an incredible and knowledgeable athlete who is going to be able to guide me through not only my sporting career, but life outside of sport as well,” Josie said.

Snow Australia CEO Michael Kennedy said that it’s a huge honour for Josie to be included in the elite group of young athletes receiving the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship for 2021.

“Earlier this year, Josie showed she is a rising star of the sport when she claimed the first ever Australian gold medal at the Winter Youth Olympic Games,” Kennedy said.

“Being awarded the SAHOF Scholarship is a nod to that potential and apart from the significant financial support, it comes with a unique opportunity to be mentored by one of our nation’s greatest ever athletes in Susie O’Neill.

The whole Australian snow community is right behind Josie and are excited to see what is coming next in her career.

“We’re grateful to the SAHOF for providing such a tremendous opportunity for Josie, as she continues on her path towards the 2022 Olympic and beyond,” he said.

Swimming legend Susie O’Neill AM has put her hand up to help guide Josie Baff over the next 12 months.

“Josie is such an impressive talent and I am excited to be able to support her in any way that I can,” O’Neill said.

“It took many years for me to learn everything I did about elite sport and to be able to give even 1 percent of that back to Josie as a Mentor will be an honour.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know Josie as a person and athlete and learning from her, especially more about snowboarding,” she said.

Sport Australia Chair John Wylie Am said the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program shows the collective power of sport.

“The best part of this program is seeing mentors and scholarship holders from different sporting backgrounds come together with a shared goal to help the next generation of young elite athletes achieve sporting success,” Wylie said.

“Nothing comes close to sport as a power to unite us, motivate us and inspire us.”

Moguls Skier Cooper Woods (Tier 2) and Cross Country skier Darcie Morton (Tier 3) were also named as SAHOF Scholarship holders.