Freestyle skier Anton Grimus will be one of our medal hopes at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Source: Adam Taylor / DailyTelegraph
YOU can barely see it behind the beard, but this could be the new face of Australian Olympic dominance.
With 100 days to go until the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi, Australian Chef de Mission Ian Chesterman says the team is aiming for a top 15 finish on the medal tally.
If that's going to happen, Australia's male athletes like freestyle skier Anton Grimus are going to have to step up – literally – to the podium.
Women have dominated Australia's recent Summer and Winter Olympic campaigns. In London, the girls won 20 of our 35 medals. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Torah Bright and Lydia Lassila won our only two gold medals.
Both Bright and Lassila will defend their titles in Sochi. But in a sign of Australia's increasing all-round strength as a winter sports nation, world class male athletes like Anton Grimus could deliver the lion's share of Aussie medals in Sochi.
"The girls are outstanding and they've shown us what it's about," Grimus said. "We're going to knuckle down a bit and see where it gets us."
Grimus grew up in the Victorian ski resort of Mt Buller. His parents run the popular Hotel Pension Grimus, and Anton jokes that the family's accommodation was nowhere near as swish as the guest rooms.
His childhood was a little different to most. Instead of mowing lawns or doing the dishes, his parents made him help out in the hotel or shovel snow.
He skied whenever he could, and today Grimus is one of the world's top athletes in the event of ski cross. It's the wintry equivalent of a greyhound race, a mad flurry of elbows and shoulders as four competitors dash down the hill together in an elimination format.
Grimus, who has finished on the podium in World Cup events, said luck plays a big part in his sport. "Anyone can do a Bradbury, that's part of the game."
Meanwhile, Australian chef de mission Ian Chesterman says Australia's winter sports athletes no longer feel like a lonely sibling to the summer team here in Australia.
"There is a sense of self‐belief and culture within our athletes and they believe they can win which is very important," he said.
"We are delighted that these athletes are part of the Australian Olympic Team as one brand."
Mr Chesterman also said the Sochi venues, which have cost up to $50 billion, were easily the best he'd seen anywhere in the world in his five stints as Chef de Mission.
"The money's been spent and you can see where it's been spent," he said.
He also said Australia's Olympic village would be an alcohol-free zone, as it will be at the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio.
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