Steven Bradbury (speed skater)

Steven Bradbury

Personal information
Born	(1973-10-14) 14 October 1973 (age 43) Camden, New South Wales, Australia
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight	176 lb (80 kg)
Sport
Country	Australia
Sport	Short track speed skating
Medal record Men's Short track speed skating Representing  Australia Olympic Games 2002 Salt Lake City 1000 m 1994 Lillehammer 5000 m relay World Championships 1991 Sydney 5000 m relay 1994 Guildford 5000 m relay 1993 Beijing 5000 m relay

Steven John Bradbury OAM (born 14 October 1973) is an Australian former short track speed skater and four-time Olympian. He is best known for winning the 1,000 m event at the 2002 Winter Olympics after all of his opponents were involved in a last corner pile-up. He was the first Australian to win a Winter Olympic gold medal and was also part of the short track relay team that won Australia's first Winter Olympic medal, a bronze in 1994.

In 1991, Bradbury was part of the Australian quartet that won the 5,000 m relay at the World Championships in Sydney. It was the first time Australia had won a World Championship in a winter sport.

Australia's short track relay team went into the 1992 Winter Olympics as world champions, but the team crashed in the semi-finals. The Australians were in third place when Richard Nizielski lost his footing; they finished fourth and failed to reach the final. Bradbury was unable to help, as he had been named as the reserve for the team and was sitting on the bench. He was not selected for any individual events.

At the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway, Bradbury was part of the short track relay team that won Australia's first Winter Olympic medal, a bronze. They scraped into the four-team final after edging out Japan and New Zealand to finish second in their semi-final. They adopted a plan of staying on their feet as first priority, and remaining undisqualified and beating at least one of the other three finalists. During the race, the Canadians fell and lost significant time, meaning that Australia would win their first medal if they raced conservatively and avoided a crash. Late in the race, Nizielski was fighting with his American counterpart for track position for the silver medal, but took the safe option and yielded, mindful of the lost opportunity following the crash in Albertville. Thus Bradbury, Nizielski, Andrew Murtha and Kieran Hansen became Australia's first Winter Olympics medallists.

Bradbury was also entered in the 500 m and 1,000 m individual events and was the favourite going into the latter. In the first event, Bradbury came second in his heat in a time of 45.43 s and then won his quarterfinal in a time of 44.18 s to qualify for the semifinal. In the semifinal, Bradbury was knocked over by a rival and he limped home fourth, in a time of 1 m 03.51 s and was eliminated. He came fourth in the B final and was classified eighth overall out of 31 competitors. In the 1,000 m event, Bradbury fell in his heat after being illegally pushed by a competitor who was later disqualified. He came home in 2 m 01.89 s, more than 30 s off the leaders' pace and was eliminated. Nevertheless, because of the high rate of accidents, Bradbury came 24th out of 31 competitors.

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