Torah Bright
I woke up this morning to some exciting news. Australia has won its first gold medal at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Torah Bright has won gold in the women’s snowboard halfpipe final. Not bad for a country that is more well known for its surf and sun than its snow.
It’s the second medal for Australia -Dale Begg-Smith won silver in the men’s moguls, even though he was tipped to win the competition. He lost to Canadian skier Alexandre Bilodeau, who became the first athlete to win a gold medal on home soil. It was a shame Begg-Smith didn’t win gold, but I was quite happy for the Canadian, because in the past two winter Olympics Canada has hosted, no Canadian won a gold medal.
Not many people know that it snows in Australia, but it does and in both Victoria and New South Wales there are ski slopes. The mountains may be more like hills compared to the ranges of Canada and France but it is still worth skiing in the winter time.
My dad used to take me over to Falls Creek in Victoria every year, from the age of seven. My mum doesn’t like to come because she’s not that keen on skiing (although she keeps saying it is because she has a sore knee but we know the real reason) and so it is a good chance to spend some quality time with my dad.
The United Kingdom has yet to win a medal at the games, but perhaps this will change soon. It doesn’t surprise me that the Brits aren’t doing as well at the games. Most English people like to holiday to hot places and escape their miserable weather, rather than visit a snow field. After living in a freezing climate for the past five months I’m starting to understand this logic.
America is at the top of the medal table with 18 and Germany is second with 11. Australia is coming 15th but for a nation that’s not known for its snow, I think this is a good effort. It’ll be interesting to see where we poll at the end of the games. And whether the United Kingdom manages to poll at all.
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