Steven Bradbury

Steven Bradbury was a mere seventeen years old when he set his first record as an Australian short track speed skater. Leading the team to the 1991 World Championship in Sydney, it was the first time Australia had won a World Championship in a winter sport. This victory compelled the entry of Bradbury’s short track relay team into the 1992 Winter Olympics, in which the team unfortunately crashed in the semi-finals. With a chance to redeem themselves at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway, Bradbury’s team did just that, earning a bronze medal for the 5000 m relay. Over the course of his career, Bradbury played in the next two Olympic Winter Games, becoming a four-time Olympian and setting many records, including the first Australian to earn a Winter Olympic gold medal, which he did in Salt Lake City in 2002. Bradbury became a legacy in this last Olympic and most prestigious victory of his, as he was the textbook definition of an underdog going into the games.