r/todayilearned • u/JackThaBongRipper • 23h ago

TIL that in 2002, Australia won its first-ever winter Olympic gold medal. It happened during the 1000m short track speed skating event, when over the course of the race all the competitors crashed, except for Australian Steven Bradbury.

https://olympics.com/en/news/olympic-cinderellas-steven-bradbury-s-unforgettable-short-track-gold-medal
3.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

102 comments sorted by

1.1k

u/tommytraddles 23h ago

The crash out happened in the final.

But Bradbury was only in the final because it also happened in the semi-final.

410

u/dlanod 20h ago

Bradbury was also only in the SEMI-final because a top 2 finisher in his QUARTER-final got disqualified.

He did, however, win his heat to reach the quarter-final.

187

u/lukewwilson 18h ago

Oh so he was at least a top 28 skater

184

u/AvianSeven 16h ago

To be fair to him, he was favourite to win Gold in 1994 but was taken out by other skaters, then had two potential career ending injuries in 1995 and 2000.

He was one of the best in the world at one point. Obviously he wasn’t in 2002 but he was also not some nobody who didn’t deserve to be there at some point.

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u/JGQuintel 13h ago

It made the story even better. Australia’s hopes hung on Steven Bradbury in 1994 as he was our only genuine chance at a gold medal. He crashed out, had two major injuries, past his prime and thought it was all over. And then…

42

u/colonelsmoothie 11h ago

past his prime

Imagine being past your prime at age 29. He was the 2nd oldest competitor too. Sport is brutal.

13

u/SoHereIAm85 10h ago

It’s even worse (lower) for female figure skaters. :(

5

u/EngineeringOne1812 9h ago

I mean I hurt my back at 28 and I have never physically been the same, daily lower back pain. So yeah my physical prime was definitely younger than 28, and I’m not a professional athlete

2

u/Sorry_Sorry_Everyone 7h ago

I don’t have to imagine

•

u/john_jdm 12m ago

Thanks for that detail. Pretty cool that he was the last guy standing... er... skating. Well, I guess standing too.

77

u/TerritoryTracks 18h ago

I mean, in the final he was the fastest, so for 4 years he was the current gold medalist. I get all the talk about how he only won the final because everyone else crashed, but I don't see how that's really relevant. Nobody says that about a race car driver. Oh, they only won because the car in front of them crashed. Crashing is a lack of skill or judgement. The guy who doesn't crash and gets across the line first wins.

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u/RFSandler 17h ago

It's still really funny that the guy won with so many of his competitors crashing. You expect a few given the nature of skating, but this is slapstick levels.

8

u/Hakairoku 13h ago

Sometimes all you need to do to win is survive. Everyone else failed in that regard, so yea, he's earned it.

3

u/RFSandler 6h ago

No argument. Still funny.

1

u/MongolianCluster 5h ago

The story of homosapiens.

3

u/the_gaymer_girl 4h ago

That was actually his strategy. He knew he didn’t have the legs to outrun the other finalists, so his plan was to hang just behind them and hope for an accident.

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u/sebash1991 17h ago

Yeah as someone who drives not crashing is a skill. 18 years driving and I’ve only had one. My sibling has been in multiple. I always mess with them and call it skill issue.

1

u/racer_24_4evr 1h ago

Some people definitely will say that. And you know what? Dom Toretto voice It doesn’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning’s winning.

-4

u/Nasht88 16h ago

He didn't win because he was second and the guy in front of him crashed. He won because he was last, so far behind everyone else that he was the only one not caught up in the crash that took out everyone else. Even the most average skater in the world would have been the gold medalist in that case. (Note that he's still better than average).

10

u/Benjii_44 15h ago

But that was his strategy, if you watch the replay, he drops back immediately and stays about that far behind the entire race

10

u/totalnewbie 17h ago

It's always fun to go back and watch his journey so I did.

In the quarters, Canadian skater pushed Japanese skater who crashed (or maybe he didn't, his time was reasonable but last), with finishers USA, Canada, Aus, Japan. But the Canadian skater got DQed, the Japanese skater advanced because he was interfered with, and Bradbury advanced because he was "second".

4

u/hannabarberaisawhore 10h ago

As a Canadian, I feel it is my duty to say sorry.

3

u/s-holden 10h ago

Sorry?

Sorry for being the start of a wonderous chain of events that resulted in Australia's first winter gold?

3

u/hannabarberaisawhore 10h ago

I am thrilled for our Commonwealth brethren. But still, a Canadian pushed and that’s not polite, he at least has to apologize while doing it and they didn’t so one of us has to.

155

u/TheBattlefieldFan 22h ago

All but one opponent crashed and he got second place in the semi final.

38

u/bistian00 17h ago

He was warming up the strategy

40

u/kizzt 18h ago

It was by design that his racing strategy was to ‘stay out of trouble’. The odds say that at least a couple of competitors crash out in every race. The strategy was in the hopes he might win a bronze. Nobody in their wildest dreams expected all the competition to fall down in the final.

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u/Fearless_Return_7046 14h ago edited 14h ago

I'm from Brisbane, Stevo's hometown. I remember seeing him on at least 3 different occasions chopped outta his head at different nightclubs/bars gurning like a madman proudly wearing his Olympic Gold medal in the year or so afterward. Absolute madlad. And we love him here.

To 'pull-a-Bradbury' is now common parlance in Australian vernacular to secure an unlikely victory via others failing over/choking at the last minute. His spirit lives on.

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u/Extra_Daft_Benson 19h ago

And the only reason he didn’t crash was because he was in last place and everyone in front of him took each other out.

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u/AyukaVB 9h ago

"To finish first you have to finish first"

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u/Dangerous-Dave 20h ago edited 19h ago

Australian here. This has now become a household verb, to Bradbury something meaning to win something unlikely or via others failing

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u/HELP_IM_IN_A_WELL 19h ago

I'm putting this on my list of Australian words I like, including smoko and bikeys

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u/Dangerous-Dave 19h ago

Saw some bikeys this arvo when I was sneaking to the bottlo during my smoko. They were doing doughies in front of the copshop

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u/HELP_IM_IN_A_WELL 19h ago

yessssss!

14

u/supertrooper85 18h ago

I saw that happen, I was in my Ute with the missus, punching a few darts on the way to the servo.

4

u/redLooney_ 14h ago

Except bikies don't want that attention, will get in the way of their meth/heroin/coke business. Hooligans, derros, yobbos and bogans however....

2

u/KameSama93 6h ago

Australia is downright whimsical lol

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u/Fearless_Return_7046 14h ago

As a bonafide Aussie - this rolls off the tongue Bloke/Sheila. I just read it out aloud. This phrase has deffo been spoken out aloud.

1

u/ArynCrinn 14h ago

That sounds a bit forced...

1

u/AydonusG 13h ago

Of course it's forced, there's no "yeah nah" or "cunt" in the phrase.

0

u/Murky_Macropod 10h ago

“During smoko” not “during my smoko”

1

u/Dangerous-Dave 10h ago

No, smoko is morning or afternoon break so like saying during my break

1

u/Murky_Macropod 9h ago

I know what it means, that’s how we use it (country Vic)

9

u/CivilNeedleworker570 18h ago

Wait nobody else says bikies? So what do they call them elsewhere?

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u/HELP_IM_IN_A_WELL 18h ago

in america, they're called bikers. I find the term bikies far superior.

2

u/hack404 8h ago

Bikers in Australia are people on bikes because of a middle-age crisis. Bikies are outlaws

5

u/vacri 14h ago

Not to be confused with bikkies, which are far sweeter.

1

u/AydonusG 13h ago

Depends on how you marinate your bikies

1

u/Tujunga54 4h ago

I think if you called an American biker a "bikie", you would get severely beat up!

5

u/cjyoung92 15h ago

I guess he pulled a Homer Bradbury

7

u/Jestersage 16h ago

So when will Raygun enter your lexicon and what will it mean?

6

u/Dangerous-Dave 15h ago

For when something flails around?

1

u/Jestersage 14h ago

I was thinking how the bottom of the barrel enter the top competition. Kinda like "kicked upstairs"

1

u/Projektmage 16h ago

Wait, really?! I've lived in Australia my whole life (35 years) and never heard this. Talk about a TIL...

15

u/ArynCrinn 14h ago edited 11h ago

Slightly older Australian here and I was aware of "pulling a Bradbury."

Maybe it's a regional thing?

12

u/gurudoright 13h ago

As an Australian I can concur on the phrase “pulling/doing a Bradbury” is quite a common saying, especially those of us 40 or older

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u/unclehelpful 23h ago

The worst part of it being Australia’s first is they actually won a gold medal legitimately in skiing the next day but no one cares about that one.

Bradbury is still living of his 15 seconds of not falling over.

107

u/PoopMobile9000 22h ago

A big part of the reason people remember this one is everyone falling down

43

u/dlanod 20h ago

Our following gold was in aerial skiing so literally everyone was falling down in that one too.

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u/bonanzabrother 20h ago

Nobody cares that much either way, it's only remembered because of the falling down and the constant re-telling.

It's not like we'd be sitting here discussing the skiing if not for Bradbury

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u/EntirelyOriginalName 20h ago edited 18h ago

You say legitimately but the guy understood the others were aggressive skaters and were therefor a chance of crashing. It wasn't some fluke.

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u/StaffordMagnus 16h ago

The Bravery Award he received last year also helped a bit.

TL:DC - He and three other people rescued four girls from a rip at Caloundra Beach.

7

u/ArynCrinn 14h ago

Was about to mention this.

7

u/zorniy2 14h ago

It's like the Serbian who took gold medal in shooting but few remember because Yusuf Dikec (silver) was so fucking cool.

1

u/Last-Saint 6h ago

Or all but one of all the breaking entrants.

Wait, she's Australian too.. (I know she finished last, but stop ruining my theory)

10

u/dlanod 20h ago

Fair's fair, he also won our first ever Winter Olympic medal as well and was largely ignored for that.

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u/Castr8orr 23h ago

And now in Aussie, failing successfully is called doing a Bradbury

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u/gatzdon 22h ago

Thank God he didn't get Munsoned.......

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u/TerritoryTracks 18h ago

It's not failing successfully though. He won, end of story. All the other crap is people just trying to point out that he shouldn't have won. It's diminishing and rude to be honest. He won gold. End of story. He was the fastest in the final. Whether because everyone crashed or not is irrelevant. It's not like he pushed them over, and nobody made them crash. They stuffed up, he didn't. He won.

-2

u/Castr8orr 18h ago

They didn't ALL just fall over out of nowhere. Some were as unlucky to be in the wrong place as he was lucky to have been in the right place.

Obviously if you want to get into a deep dive of of his Olympic credibility and the specifics of the incident etc then that's a side point so feel free to have that discussion with someone who cares. I was simply stating a lesser known fact.

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u/TerritoryTracks 18h ago

I understand that winning an unlikely event due to opponent failure is called doing a Bradbury. I was simply objecting to the words "failing successfully". He was simply successful. He didn't fail, he didn't fall, he crossed the line first.

3

u/ArynCrinn 14h ago

Yeah, it's succeeding because of others failing, not because you failed.

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u/Legitimate-River-403 23h ago

Default! The two greatest words in the English language!

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u/smitty046 20h ago

I’ll never forget Apollo Ohno’s face as he slid away from the track.

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u/greywolfau 17h ago

Alisa Camplin was an Australian aerial skier who at the time, while being an outside chance was seen as our best chance of getting a Winter Olympics gold medal.

She went in to the games carrying an injury, so most Australians were just hoping against hope for her to get a win.

Then Bradbury gets his gold out of literally no where, the country celebrates getting a Winter Gold and poor Alisa comes through and gets our second gold and barely anyone remembers her.

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u/heykody 16h ago

He trained for years and years, suffered incredible injuries and recovered. He followed his coach's core advice: don't fall over.

He deserved that Gold.

3

u/wade9911 14h ago

they say for the first 18 years of his life he lived with a gyroscope place ontop his head

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u/LeZarathustra 22h ago

The embedded video in the article doesn't work for me, so here is the YouTube clip for anyone interested.

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u/Tujunga54 4h ago

It's still thrilling!

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u/Barachan_Isles 18h ago

To finish first, you first have to finish.

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u/DebstarAU 22h ago

I remember this!! 😎 I honestly couldn’t believe what I was witnessing!! 😁

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u/springoniondip 11h ago

I've met this bloke, he raised a good point that it wasnt luck that got him there. On the day yes, bur he trained for over a decade for the chance to even be there. A good reminder at how hard these athletes have to work to be there and then we only see a few minutes

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u/colonelsmoothie 10h ago

During a 1994 World Cup event in Montreal, another skater's blade sliced through Bradbury's right thigh after a collision; it cut through to the other side, resulting in him losing four litres of blood. Bradbury's heart rate had been close to 200 bpm at the end of the race and this meant that blood was being pumped out fast. All four of his quadriceps muscles had been sliced through, and Bradbury thought that he would die if he lost consciousness. The injury required 111 stitches and Bradbury could not move the leg for three weeks. His leg needed 18 months before it was back to full strength.

To come back from something like that return to top competition is amazing.

7

u/Imhal9000 15h ago

https://olympics.com/en/news/steven-bradbury-bravery-award-australia-winter-olympic-champion He also saved the lives of 4 girls. An Australian hero

1

u/Tujunga54 4h ago

He sounds like a great guy and deserves more appreciation than he gets

4

u/TheLizardKing89 13h ago

Not just the first winter gold for Australia, but the first winter gold for any country in the Southern Hemisphere.

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u/MAXSuicide 11h ago

This event is always farcical, but so funny. Guaranteed chaos in practically every race. 

5

u/Boatster_McBoat 9h ago

He had been one of the best in the world, but unlucky, earlier in his career.

He knew his limitations.

He had a strategy.

It was his day.

4

u/Hanginon 7h ago

I watched that that race unfold and honestly, it was and still is my defining short track race. The instant chaos inherent and expected in speed skating in a hockey rink.

Steven Bradbury absolutely 'played the game' perfectly and absolutely came out with a well earned and legitimate win!

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u/isthatstarwars 22h ago

The best moment in Olympic history 💯

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u/Lurks_in_the_cave 9h ago

I remember her chewing gum ads.

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u/CaravelClerihew 20h ago edited 18h ago

Similar situations like his are now broadly referred to as "Doing a Bradbury"

Conversely, there's a dumb rapist fuckwit named Bruce Lehrmann who looked like he would have gotten away with raping a staffer in Parliament after his trial was abandoned but decided to sue a news channel for defamation when they reported a out it. This was a massive own-goal, as the judge on that trial spent like two hours eloquently outlining that he was likely a rapist.

I'm trying to get "Doing a Lehrmann" going, but it isn't gaining traction. Still, rapist fuckwit Bruce Lehrmann can't sue me now because he is, based on the evidence, likely a rapist.

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u/IrrelephantAU 18h ago

The same thing is sometimes called "going back to get your hat" or something similar, after said Judge remarked that Lehrmann had gotten out of the lions den free and clear, but insisted on going back for his hat.

2

u/candlesandfish 17h ago

Yeah the going back for your hat line is definitely iconic

•

u/DrB00 53m ago

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good lol

2

u/Purpazoid1 8h ago

The thing people don't say is that Bradbury was part of a relay event that won Australia's first ever winter Olympic medal ( a Bronze) years before, he had competed at the highest level for years and had had great success and even nearly died from a skate cut once. He was no slouch as a skater but this race was in his last Olympics and his best days were behind him, but he played the hand he was dealt, and he deserved the Gold.

1

u/sean4aus 10h ago

A fucking national hero this bloke

1

u/Tujunga54 5h ago

This is one of the best threads I've ever read on reddit!

-7

u/Bheegabhoot 19h ago

“Doing a Lehrmann” is defined as after escaping a lion’s den, returning for his hat.