Lydia Lassila is aware of what it is wish to succeed at a Olympic Winter Video games.
Her gold medal in Vancouver is now 16 years in the past and was the second such achievement by an Aussie in aerial snowboarding since Alisa Camplin-Warner in 2002.
Huge World of Sports activities spoke with Lassila final yr within the lead-up to the Milano-Cortina Video games and when it was put to her how lengthy it’d been, she had one phrase: “loopy”.
Watch the Winter Olympic Video games Milano Cortina 2026 reside and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. Plus, each occasion reside & on demand, each medal in 4K, and unique worldwide protection on Stan Sport.
“You simply shut your eyes for a moment and may take your self again there and re-live the moment,” she mentioned.
“Which is sweet that I nonetheless have the marbles to return there and bear in mind each single a part of it.
“To mirror is a present actually, to have these reminiscences locked away someplace and have the ability to draw on them is very nice.”
Lydia Lassila on the rostrum in 2010 at Vancouver. Getty
Lasilla beamed all through that alternate. The sensation of accomplishment and reaching the Everest of your sport has restricted comparability.
She does sufficient keynote speeches and shows to make sure the reminiscence is not arduous to overlook.
The imaginative and prescient seems throughout these speeches, adopted by her leaping heights us mere mortals can solely dream of.
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However that wasn’t a dream for Lasilla. It was a actuality.
“After profitable the medal, it is only a whirlwind. You are in aid, you are in disbelief, you have performed one thing you mentioned you thought or believed you can do and confirmed it to your self and to others,” she recounted.
“And then you definately’re simply so drained as nicely, proper? So there’s all of the psychological load, the fears, the thrill and anticipation of constructing as much as the occasion like that and it is form of like this strain valve’s launched and it takes some time to settle.”
That moment for Lasilla is a part of a protracted Australian legacy within the sport.
The pioneering athlete was Kirstie Marshall who was a constant Olympics competitor within the Nineties. Jacqui Cooper additionally accomplished in 5 Olympics from the ’90s to 2010.
Australia may have 5 aerial skiers at Milano Cortina in Laura Peel, Danielle Scott, Abbey Willcox, Airleigh Frigo and Reilly Flanagan. Though Peel is now underneath an damage cloud.
Laura Peel. Getty
The seeds of this got here in 2008 when Cooper was tasked with discovering gymnasts who may change. Scott and Peel had been a part of that recruitment drive.
Earlier than Cooper was provided that job, Lasilla was a high quality instance of a gymnast who may excel.
“I used to be a little bit of an experiment … and that mannequin nonetheless works in aerial snowboarding and it is one thing that they nonetheless observe however have refined rather a lot,” she mentioned.
“You introduced the work ethic and acrobatic consciousness and the talents you have learnt in gymnastics they usually translated very well into studying the way to ski and studying the way to flip on skis.”
Requested to match from her time, Lasilla was fast to guarantee it was nothing like now.
She in contrast it to the iPhone.
“The newer variations are simply extra glossy and extra polished,” she mentioned.
Lydia Lassila together with her gold medal. Getty
These athletes now have all of the sources on the planet, and it is why we will solely dream of extra medals.
“I feel we have actually dialled in on this system now,” she mentioned.
“We have got some nice teaching workers, we have got amenities now in Brisbane that Aussie athletes can prepare on throughout the summer time months, so I feel every part from bodily preparation to psychological preparation to logistics and with the ability to prepare in the most effective locations and the most effective amenities on the planet units up an amazing basis for these athletes to then do the work.
“There is no shortcutting that, however they have entry to all of the sources that they should be nice athletes, so they have every part from vitamin to medical care to psychological care to bodily assist.”
She describes it as “the perfect recipe”.
Hopefully these are the substances that create gold.
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