Industry News
Olympics
The Sport Australia Hall of Fame (‘SAHOF’) announced seven new inductees for the nation’s most prestigious sporting organization, including Aerial Skier Lydia Lassila. Lassila is joined by Olympic rowers, soccer and rugby players in this great honor, who left an indelible mark on the world of sports in Australia and beyond. The inductees will be honoured at a Sport Australia Hall of Fame event to be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on October 16, 2023.
The honor roll of induction into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame features the nation’s biggest sporting names and champions, including record-breaking swimmer Ian Thorpe, tennis legend Rod Laver or iconic surfer Layne Beachley. Those who are inducted into this elite group are Australia’s leading champions, who have not only excelled in their chosen field, but have done so with dignity, integrity, courage, modesty, pride and ambition. Membership as an Athlete Member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame is limited exclusively to the top echelon of Australian athletes who have all achieved the highest honors at the peak level of competition.
Lydia Lassila is one of Australia’s most decorated Winter Olympic athletes. The aerial skier became the first Australian woman to compete in five Olympic Winter Games, having competed in the 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 Games, winning Gold in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada, and Bronze in 2014 in Sochi, Russia. At the 2014 Olympics she became the first woman to do a quad-jump in a competition, throwing a Back Full-Double-Full-Full and raising the bar for women in aerials to a whole new level.
Her aerial skiing career was also marked by setbacks and incredible come backs. In 2005 Lasilla tore her ACL which she re-ruptured in Turin, Italy, in 2006, making her Gold medal in 2010 even more impressive. She has podiumed a total of 39 times at FIS World Cup events and won a total of 16 times during her 15 active years from 2003 to 2018. In 2009 Lassila won the Overall Aerials Crystal Globe.
Her inspiring journey was covered in an award winning documentary called “The Will to Fly”. If you are finding yourself in need of inspiration, watch the award winning story of her incredible comeback from injury (the documentary won both Best World Documentary Award as well as Best Mountain Culture Film Award at the 2016 Whistler Film Festival).
