Australia competed at the 1964 Winter Olympics in
Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...
,
Austria.
Six athletes were sent, and Australia competed only in
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...
. Australia's best result was Christine Smith's 27th place in downhill.
The games were marred by tragedy due to the deaths of Australian
skier Ross Milne and
Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypecki a
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
-born
British luge
A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...
athlete during practice.
A minute's silence was given for them in the opening ceremony. Peter Brockhoff withdrew from the downhill event, saying "I simply cannot compete on this course where I lost my best friend". Australian reserve Peter Wenzel competed in the downhill along with Simon Brown.
Investigation into Ross's death
An inquiry held by the organising committee said that Ross "caught an edge".
Hugh Weir reported to the Australian Olympic Federation that
:''Because Ross Milne was only seventeen years of age, the question was raised at the
nnsbruckIOC meeting as to whether inexperienced people were being sent to compete in ... snow sports which contain an element of danger.''
Dr Blaxland said that he was wrong about his age (he was nineteen), and that the IOC was wrong to suggest he was inexperienced:
:''In our view Ross Milne was an extremely competent skier. He had competed in Australian championships at least four years before, and we considered him to be an experienced skier. He had been in Europe before ... His fall was not due to lack of skill on his part''
Manager John Wagner said that Milne had found the path 150 metres ahead of him obscured by contestants congregating because the top part of the downhill course was overcrowded, and tried to slow down "on a spot which was not prepared for stopping or swinging". He argued that the accident might have been prevented by stricter management of the downhill course, which had a hundred racers on it. He also said that "any of the top skiers would probably have been in difficulty in a similar situation".
His brother
Malcolm Milne
Malcolm Milne (born 9 November 1948) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Australia. Some sources give his birth date as 5 November 1948.
Born Beechworth, Victoria, and raised on the family tobacco farm in Myrtleford, Milne competed in ...
competed in the
1968
The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide.
Events January–February
* January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
* Januar ...
and
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
Winter Olympics. He said that the suggestion that skiers from Australia and
New Zealand should not compete on downhill courses gave him motivation to prove that they were capable of doing so.
Alpine skiing
Peter Brockhoff withdrew from the downhill event, but Simon Brown and Peter Wenzel competed in the event, with John Wagner saying "They wanted to prove Australians can handle the difficult downhill course".
;Men
;Women
See also
*
Australia at the Winter Olympics
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
References
External links
Australia NOCOlympic Winter Institute of Australia
*"Australians at the Olympics: A definitive history" by Gary Lester (suspected errata listed in Errata/0949853054)
*"2002 Australian Winter Olympic Team Guide
PDF file
*"The Compendium: Official Australian Olympic Statistics 1896-2002" Australian Olympic Committee (Inconsistencies in sources mentioned in Wikibooks:Errata/0702234257)
*"Australia and the Olympic Games" by Harry Gordon.
{{Nations at the 1964 Winter Olympics
Nations at the 1964 Winter Olympics
1964 Winter Olympics
The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a winter multi-sport event which was celebr ...
Winter sports in Australia
1964 in Australian sport