Last Man Standing
Steven Bradbury was born on October 14th, 1973 in Australia, where Winter Sports were not fanned by most. Despite that, by the age of 20, he had emerged as the best speed skater in Australia. Soon after, he advanced as a skater of international class , inspiring 3 others to join him in the Olympics. This was how Australia won its first ever Winter Olympic Medal (Bronze) in the 4x5000 meter relay at the 1994 Olympics of Lillehammer.
Bradbury didn’t stop there. He strived to compete with the best of the best, so he went ahead to pursue his dream of an individual gold medal, but had no luck in the Olympics of 1994 nor 1998. And it looked like chances were slim in 2002, with just one event left to go. Starting off strong, Bradbury won his qualifying heats and finished second in his quarterfinal. But his competitors in the semifinal were so fierce that left him with no room to advance. After years of persistent training with grit, the result was not a surprise but a bit hard to swallow. Just before being sent home, the second place finisher was disqualified, the door to the finals opened to Bradbury.
In the 5-man final, predictably, the competition soon became a 4 man pack, with Steven lagging behind. With just 3 laps to go, Bradbury was off the pace by almost two seconds. At the last turn, all of sudden everybody in front of him fell. With a blink of the eye, Bradbury skated across the finish line, claiming his gold medal. Even Bradbury could not quite believe what had happened as the path cleared before him, allowing him to become the first Australian to win a gold medal in the history of the Winter games. Steven Bradbury may not be the best skater in the world and he may have been extremely lucky, but sometimes, it's the persistence that matters. Steven Bradbury single handedly advanced Australian speed skating more than anybody else, and at the end, he was awarded the most coveted achievement in all of speed skating.
Bradbury didn’t stop there. He strived to compete with the best of the best, so he went ahead to pursue his dream of an individual gold medal, but had no luck in the Olympics of 1994 nor 1998. And it looked like chances were slim in 2002, with just one event left to go. Starting off strong, Bradbury won his qualifying heats and finished second in his quarterfinal. But his competitors in the semifinal were so fierce that left him with no room to advance. After years of persistent training with grit, the result was not a surprise but a bit hard to swallow. Just before being sent home, the second place finisher was disqualified, the door to the finals opened to Bradbury.
In the 5-man final, predictably, the competition soon became a 4 man pack, with Steven lagging behind. With just 3 laps to go, Bradbury was off the pace by almost two seconds. At the last turn, all of sudden everybody in front of him fell. With a blink of the eye, Bradbury skated across the finish line, claiming his gold medal. Even Bradbury could not quite believe what had happened as the path cleared before him, allowing him to become the first Australian to win a gold medal in the history of the Winter games. Steven Bradbury may not be the best skater in the world and he may have been extremely lucky, but sometimes, it's the persistence that matters. Steven Bradbury single handedly advanced Australian speed skating more than anybody else, and at the end, he was awarded the most coveted achievement in all of speed skating.
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