Tuesday, February 19, 2002
Freestyle world flips as Aussie rules skies
By STEVE SIMMONS -- Team Sun
PARK CITY, Utah -- And the gold medal for charming the world at the Winter Olympics goes to ... Australia?
For the second time in three days, an unlikely Australian athlete won gold and teased the world with a delightful and unlikely story and a wink of an eye.
Alisa Camplin, who didn't learn to ski until she was 19, has landed on her head almost as often as she has landed on her skis (Said Camplin: "I'm just as smart as I always was.") and had never before been close to victory. Yesterday she won the gold medal in the women's aerials competition.
Camplin -- who, "sold everything to be here, including my car," admits that she can't ski, and trains in leech-infested waters back home -- won Australia's second gold medal here, which also happens to be the second Winter Olympics medal in the country's history.
Australia is now tied with Canada with two gold medals in Salt Lake and is one gold ahead of prominent winter power, Austria.
"Good, we're beating Austria," the 27-year-old said. "A lot of times we are confused for Austrians. We're AUS. They're AUT. Nothing against them, but I'm Australian and I love it."
The win for Camplin, who landed two excellent jumps, comes in the wake of the remarkable short track victory of Steven Bradbury on Saturday. The difference between her win and Bradbury's is she had to earn it.
Camplin, a former gymnast, became interested in aerials after watching the 1994 Winter Olympics. She approached the Australian team and told them she wanted to learns aerials.
"They promised to teach me to ski," she said. "I didn't learn so good. But I'm getting better at landing."
As pretty as Camplin's jumping was -- arms and legs moving in straight lines against the backdrop of a clear, blue sky -- she put on an even better show after it was over.
She started crying as she left the landing area and said "Oh my God, Oh my God," hardly able to believe she had done it.
2002 Games Freestyle Skiing Coverage
