24/03/2026
🚨 Inspiring Story Alert 🚨
We are always inspired by what people can do, and by celebrating their achievements we hope you will be too!
With the Winter Olympics having concluded last month, we were reminded of the story of Australia’s first ever Winter Olympics Gold Medalist – Steven Bradbury.
Steven won gold in the men’s 1000m speed skating event at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, coming from last place to cross the finish line first after all his opponents crashed into each other and fell on the final lap.
Although this story is often told as an example of good fortune, what is often forgotten is the decades of hard work that had lead to that moment. Steven was competing in his 4th consecutive Winter Olympics, having recovered from an ice skate blade to the thigh requiring 111 stitches, and a broken neck in training in the year 2000 that had doctors telling him that he would never skate again.
Bradbury himself has said: "Obviously I wasn't the fastest skater. I don't think I'll take the medal as the minute-and-a-half of the race I actually won. I'll take it as the last decade of the hard slog I put in."
His story is one of true Australian determination, and an example of where putting in the hard work can pay off even when you least expect it.
For mor information on Steven Bradbury’s story, check out his Wikipedia Page here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Bradbury
