Olympic Gamesthe interview
2010 Getty Images
The short track Olympian told Stefano Arcobelli of "Il Giornale": "Now my story is told in the schools. I would like to know Arianna Fontana better: it is a myth".
Sunday 21 June 2020 5 minutes reading time
A historic gold for Australia, incredible as it matured in those crazy 1000 meters of the Salt Lake City Games, but far from random as one might think observing only the final of those Winter Olympics that brought Steven Bradbury in five-circle Olympus ... forever.
Dario Puppo and Massimiliano Ambesi also spoke about it in a dedicated episode of the "Puppo & Ambesi Live by Night", but it is also interesting to read the interview that my colleague Stefano Arcobelli made with Bradbury, on the columns of "Il Giornale": "That day in Salt Lake City I ran with experience and judgment - the Australian's story - I knew that, being the oldest skater, after having faced heats, quarter-finals and semi-finals, in the fourth race in less than two hours I would not have had the strength to recover.
I decided to stay behind and wait: I knew that the others, in the final, would do anything to win, even to clash at the last corner, if necessary. Which guaranteed me a minimal chance of aiming at least for bronze. I never imagined that being detached from others would have meant winning a gold medal. "
Not only luck, however, if we think of the Australian's top-level career, conditioned by two serious injuries: “Before the Salt Lake City edition I had placed an Olympic bronze medal, as well as a gold, around my neck silver and bronze at the World Championships (all in relay). For 14 years I trained 5 hours a day, 6 days a week: this is not luck. Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
I almost died on two occasions: the first time after cutting a leg and losing 4 liters of blood, then stitched up with 131 sutures; a second time I broke my neck and I'm lucky not to be in a wheelchair. In Lillehammer, in 1994, I was one of the big favorites for gold in the 1000 meters, but I went out immediately. This is what I call karma: what one puts into the world is what the world will eventually give you back. "
Now Steven lectures and travels the world telling his incredible sporting parable: “My story ended in schools and I attended more than 1350 conferences and events in 21 countries (never in Italy, unfortunately). After that triumph, the expression "Doing a Bradbury" was used in the Macquarie dictionary, used when talking about victories following miraculous circumstances. And I'm proud of it. "
Bradbury also has a thought for Arianna Fontana, our short track champion, ready to write the history of the discipline in Beijing 2022: “It is a myth. I met her a few times, she is an incredible skater and for many years only she and Elise Christie have challenged the domination of South Korea and China. It would be great to share a beer: tell her to look for me if she ever comes to Australia. "
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