Australia at the Lillehammer Winter Paralympics 1994
The Lillehammer Winter Paralympic Games were held in 1994, six months after Sydney was awarded the 2000 Paralympics. Australians got to follow the success of the athletes on television as the ABC covered the Games, unlike in the case of previous Winter Paralympics.
Performance:
The Australian team consisted of six Alpine skiers. Rod Hacon, Michael Milton, David Munk and Michael Norton had all attended the previous Winter Paralympics in Tignes-Albertville (1992), while this was the first Paralympics for cerebral palsy skier James Patterson and team captain Craig Windham. The athletes were supported by a strong and experienced team of nine technical and administrative support staff, led by Chef de Mission Nick Dean (Chef de Mission), Head Coach Steve Graham and Team Manager Ron Finneran, who had been to every winter Games since and including the very first, in 1976. This small team of six athletes would win more medals than any other Australian winter Paralympic team to date. Australia came away from Lillehammer in 5th position in the alpine events, winning 3 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals and, without any participants in Nordic Skiing or Ice Sledge events, Australia finished 11th from 31 nations in the total medal count. The Australian team was successful because it was an incredible blend of talent, experience, and a detailed and meticulous training program. Once the six person team for Lillehammer was selected, training and racing were conducted at Tamsweg, Austria (where the snow, weather and terrain conditions were similar to the Paralympic site) and the team gained valuable experience competing in the Austrian and German Nationals. From Austria, the team traveled to Hafjell near Lillehammer to train on the site of the Alpine event for the Paralympic Games.
The Lillehammer Winter Paralympic Games were held in 1994, six months after Sydney was awarded the 2000 Paralympics.
Date: March 1994
Choose fields
© 2024 Australian Paralympic Committee
Web Design and Development by NOUS