Impact
Cooper Woods Moguls Skier
“The really cool thing about coming back from the Games was understanding the impact on my community. I didn’t realize how many people were so supportive of what I was doing.”
Community the golden heart of
Wood’s Olympic dream
BY CATRIONA DIXON
Ask moguls skier Cooper Woods what the Olympics mean to him, and he’ll answer in one word: “community”.
See him flipping burgers at his family’s takeaway store on the NSW south coast or chatting with the Merimbula locals, and you start to understand his response.
Without community, the tenacious 21-year-old says, he would never have achieved his dream of competing at the 2022 Beijing Games. Nor have faith to continue his journey onto Milano Cortina in 2026.
The road to winter Olympic representation is tough for any athlete, but as Woods points out, it’s even more difficult for an aspiring Aussie who hails from a seaside town of 3500 people best known for whale watching and surfing.
“For me, the Olympics are about representing my community,” says Cooper, who fell just short of a medal finishing sixth in the men’s mogul final at his first Games in China.”
“Even though moguls are an individual sport, I always feel the support from my community back home, and I feel like I need to do well for everyone.”
“There are not a lot of elite athletes that come out of our area; it is exciting to represent my home and show everyone all the time, the sacrifices I’ve made by being away doing my sport, is worth it.”
“I want to show people it is possible to achieve at a high level.”
Born and bred on the shores of Pambula Beach, you’d expect Woods to have emerged as a star on the world surfing tour.
Take a quick look at his social media, and you’ll see almost as many surfing photos as skiing snap shots. The most recent a post-Olympic trip to the Maldives with his father and some mates.
Ask about his childhood, and he’ll tell you his first love is surfing, before reminiscing about days spent in the waves, camping at Gillards Beach and eating pies with his mates watching the break at Long Point.
“Living on the South Coast I grew up under the radar. Merimbula is a beautiful town, such a great place to be a kid. We were at the beach almost the entire time, in the water surfing or fishing and camping,” says Woods, who had first board at age three.
“You could kind of run wild, it’s not a very busy town and it’s such a small community, so everyone knows everyone.”
“The really cool thing about coming back from the Games was understanding the impact on my community. I didn’t realize how many people were so supportive of what I was doing.”
With parents Katrina Woods and Matt Topalovic both members of the national aerials team in the 1990s, it’s no surprise Woods is excelling on the slopes.
But it was his uncle Peter Topalovic, the national mogul team coach and Winter Sports Coordinator for the NSW Institute of Sport, who really ignited the young star’s interest in the sport.
An invitation to try out the Snow Australia Water Jump in Gruyere Victoria with his older cousin, Ethan, was the catalyst for Wood to pursue a snow sports career.
“I was asked if I’d like to go to a training facility down where you ski down a ramp into a pond. I said, ‘Absolutely, why not?” he remembers.
“My cousin was actually quite good at it. I was really competitive and didn’t like how much better he was than me.”
“I wasn’t afraid of taking some bad hits on the water because I grew up in the ocean. Before I knew it, I was starting to catch up to him, fast.”
“From when I was about 12, I spent most of my summers away chasing the winter.”
“It was a bit of a rude shock at first, but I fell in love with the sport and I fell in love with the travel that I was able to do at such a young age.”
“Coming back home is always awesome. It gives me a chance to switch off from competing and training; it is the complete opposite from what I was doing with my skiing.”
For Woods, skiing the moguls isn’t just about winning or being a poster boy for winter sports. It’s about showcasing opportunity.
He is acutely aware of the impact he has – and can continue to have – creating pathways for young Australians in regional areas to follow their dreams in sports or other pursuits.
This approach, while not the norm for a university student who spends his days zipping down the moguls’ hills at the world’s most prestigious ski resorts, reflects his true character.
One of the first medal’s Woods won as a youngster was not for skiing.
At just 12, he was awarded a Child of Courage Medal for jumping 10m into a pool to help a friend who slipped from the top of a waterfall and was knocked unconscious.
Using lifesaving skills learned as a Nipper, he lifted the girl’s face from the water to prevent her from drowning and administered essential first aid before she was airlifted to safety.
Today he continues to give back to his community encouraging other young people living in the town to follow their passions.
The Griffith University business student is fortunate to be mentored by Wallaby great John Eels as part of a scholarship with the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Woods speaks at his alma mater – Lumen Christi Catholic College regularly and is using the skills gained from his international experience in elite sport to guide members of the school’s athlete talent program.
He shares how he prepares at the start of his races, running through a three-stage ritual: What is the best run I can do now? What pressures am I feeling now? Let’s do it, enjoy the moment.
The skier says his promotion of the Olympic values of excellence, respect and friendship are welcomed by the community, particularly, in the wake of the 2020 bushfire which ravaged the NSW South Coast and the impact of covid lockdowns on the tourist region.
“It’s definitely been a rough couple of years with the fires that came through and pretty much wiped out, most of the south coast, then running into covid,” Woods confides.
“Business has been pretty tough for a lot of people. It bonded us even closer together as a community because everyone knew someone who’d lost a home or a business or work.”
“At the word ‘Olympics’, people’s eyes light up. The Games really picked up the community and helped us band together.”
“I want young people in my town to know they have a real opportunity to achieve some sort of greatness, whether that is in sport, or whatever they are passionate about.”
“I want to push them to their end goal, whether that is winning a football game or a heat in surfing; just being the best they can be.”
“I want them to know whether it is financial support, or through opportunities like work experience, they can follow their dreams.”
“We don’t have a lot of opportunities down here on the south coast; we need to help create a pathway so they can make it happen.”
As the eldest of four boys, being an Olympian doesn’t excuse Woods from working shifts in the kitchen or as a barista at the family business, the Broken Oar, where his father practices his trade as a chef.
After spending almost half of his life away from his family, and with the hefty expenses associated with winter sports, Woods is committed to giving back to the parents who made it possible.
He also relishes this time with family, having only spent one Christmas with them since the age of 12, something he plans to change in 2022. Travel restrictions only added to inability to return to Australia from training during the pandemic.
Younger brothers Nate (16), Kobi (14) and Ryder (12) are also following their passions in the sports of rugby league and basketball at an elite junior level. Their parents regularly driving to Canberra, Sydney or Melbourne for competitions.
“I haven’t had the easiest of runs,” Woods says of his journey to the top of the skiing world.
“It’s an extremely expensive sport so I have done some serious hours working for my parents when I’m back home to help with the costs.”
“I use this as motivation. To have that fight. To put on a show.”
“When I’m back home I like to spend time with my brothers. We don’t get to spend much time together because of my skiing. I like going to watch them play sport and to encourage them on their journey.”
What impact has achieving his Olympic dream had on Woods since returning home to Australia?
One thing is for sure, he can’t walk down the street, or eat a meal in Merimbula without attracting the attention and admiration of the locals.
“People ask, but I’m no different from when I left, to when I came back from the Games?” he says.
“I wasn’t trying to change and I haven’t.”
“I still like coming home, having an egg and bacon or a schnitty roll and spending time with those people that matter most, my community.”
Impact
Greta Small Alpine Skier
“Before the Youth Olympics, I thought the Olympics were the pinnacle of sport but what I learned is they are so much more. They are all about culture and learning, the IOC values and what the service of sport can bring to the world.”
Small town girl having a Super G impact
on the Olympic movement
BY CATRIONA DIXON
ALPINE skier Greta Small remembers the moment she realised the Olympics were about more than just sport.
The year was 2012. The place was the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria.
The then 16-year-old from country Victoria was one of a group of talented young athletes invited to attend a press conference with the late International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge and American skiing great Lindsey Vonn.
The first half of the event was dedicated for the youth Olympians to ask questions, but Small says there was a reluctant silence from the young athletes; most were completely overawed by standing cheek-to-cheek with the world’s media.
Ever bubbly and tenacious, the Australian broke the silence firing questions at both Rogge and her childhood sporting idol. What did she ask? To Rogge, she has no memory of the question nor the answer, but Vonn’s question remains crystal clear a decade later.
“I asked about her lucky undies,” laughs Small, a three-time Olympian as she recollects her cheeky teenage self.
“I’ll never forget, the press conference organisers opened questions to the floor, and nobody said a thing. We were all so young and inexperienced. I had sweaty hands, but I just went for it.”
“I have no idea what I asked Jacques Rogge, I’m totally blank on that because I was so nervous, but I remember what I asked Lindsey because I was interviewed live on Euro Sport afterwards.”
“When I asked about her lucky undies, the tension lifted in the whole room. Everyone loved it. That’s my personality. I’m a positive person. I think the more challenges you face, the more positive you become.”
“Before the Youth Olympics, I thought the Olympics were the pinnacle of sport but what I learned is they are so much more. They are all about culture and learning; the IOC values and what the service of sport can bring to the world.”
“The Youth Olympics are where my passion for the Olympics was ignited.”
For Small, who started her career on plastic skis as a two year old at Mount Buffalo, the Olympics are no longer just a pursuit of sporting perfection, they are a life passion.
As a member of the Australia Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission, she is determined to create the legacy of a “one team” approach between winter and summer sports.
As the nation’s top Alpine skier, she wants to create history by competing at her fourth Games in the Downhill at Milano Cortina, Italy in 2026. She has already represented at the 2014, 2018 & 2022 Games.
And as a girl from the tiny town of Porepunkah, population 941, near Bright, Victoria, she wants to encourage all Aussie kids to follow their dreams.
What inspires Small is the opportunity to pave the way for others; to encourage young people to believe in themselves and to give those Olympic athletes who have a lower profile a voice.
As a young skier, who left Australia at the age of 12, to live and train in Europe for seven months of the year, she is well-aware of the commitment and sacrifices needed to achieve at an elite level.
Small says she is forever grateful for the support of her parents, Diane and Boyd, who provide the financial, emotional and logistical support to allow her to do this.
As long-time members of the Mt Hotham Race Club, they recognised the importance of their only child being based in Europe if she was to be competitive in international skiing.
Her mother, who now works with Albury City Council in community safety, put her career on hold to allow Small to train with the International Ski Academy in Pitztal, Austria and complete school through distance education. Her international airline pilot father became her ski service technician and traveling companion on his retirement.
She confides her teenage years in the Alps were isolating as trainings were spent as the only girl among a group of aspiring racers, none whose native language was English. Her German, the language that unites the snow sports world, was limited.
Without social media as we now know it, to keep Small connected with her Aussie schoolmates, she feels lucky to consider her parents among her best friends, despite their strict views on school work, which saw her sidelined from the slopes when she scored a C-grade in a high school science test.
This learning approach has had a life-long impact.
Small is currently completing a Bachelor of Communication in Business and Media at Griffith University; something she never considered possible when matriculating back in 2013.
“I’ve learned to be positive and take something out of every situation,” the 27-year-old says of her sporting journey so far.
“My parents have dedicated their whole life to give me every opportunity. I am so grateful. If I wanted to do it, they were there to support me, it was never half-hearted, it was either all or nothing.”
“Skiing is my passion. It keeps me going through all the injuries and setbacks. I tried so many different sports growing up but I never had a love for anything like I did for skiing.
“There’s no feeling quite like being in the mountains. For me it is the pursuit of excellence, striving for the perfect turn, for the perfect run.”
“Shooting for my fourth Games is about not having any regrets because sport is only such a small portion of my life. You only have one chance; I want to do everything I can. It always comes back to passion, if I have passion for what I’m doing, I know that I’ll find a way to be successful.”
“I’ve been so lucky to experience and to do so much travelling. The funny thing is, the more I experience of the world, the more grateful I am for where I grew up. I’m always so happy to come home to my little town.”
There is no question the people of Porepunkah, at the foot of Mt Buffalo in the Victorian High Country some 320km north-east of Melbourne, are always happy to have their triple Olympian home.
Her commitment to the community illustrated by regular visits to the 55-pupil primary school and mentoring sessions with her ski clubs at Hotham and Falls Creek. The town’s adoration best reflected in the fact school kids were given half a day off to watch their local hero compete at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
As a youngster, Small remembers the impact of meeting her sporting heroes and hopes to encourage other young people to be the best they can be in what they love most.
“I idolised athletes in my sport when I was growing up. Even now I still remember meeting Lindsey Vonn for the first time when I was about 12 years old,” she says.
“At the World Cup races I’d line up for her autograph. To think that would come full circle and I would end up racing her at the 2018 Olympics, then competing with her in 2019 and going to her retirement party – that was one of the coolest experiences.”
“She was my childhood hero. I remember asking her once in surprise: ‘You remember me?’ And she said: ‘Yeah, of course. I remember you, you’re the only Australian’.”
“I love going back to my little town and encouraging kids to chase their passions, to have a go and to get out of their comfort zones.”
“Doing your best is the biggest impact a person can make whether that’s in sport, your family, your community, state, country or the world. Be the best you can be. If I can help one kid do that, I’d be so happy.”
While recovering from her third anterior cruciate ligament surgery in 2019, Small took a role in community engagement in Melbourne with the Australian Olympic Committee helping to run the Change Maker Summit in Canberra. This consolidated on her mentorship role at the 2016 Youth Olympics in Norway.
“What interests me is the community engagement programs the Olympics offers; spreading the Olympic values because they transcend sport,” she says.
“The Olympic movement is my life. I will continue to pursue a leadership role beyond being a full-time athlete.”
“The youth voice is so important. The age between 16-21 is pivotal – you never know the impact you are having – you could change the next decisions someone young makes in their life.”
An election onto the AOC Athletes’ Commission, following in the footsteps of Olympic freestyle gold medallist Lydia Lassila, has provided a platform for the downhiller to contribute to the future of Australian sport.
Her nomination was submitted on a whim without expectation; her appointment received with great personal surprise but a sincere commitment to make a positive influence.
“This is the biggest honour, to be elected by my peers, it’s such a proud moment,” says Small, who compares her elation to being named as the flag bearer at the 2012 Youth Olympics.
“Not everyone wins a medal when they go to the Games. Not everyone has the backing and the funding and the super sponsors. Not everyone is a superstar in the media but everyone who goes to the Games puts in the hard slog.”
“I want to represent and give a voice to those people. I want to be a strong female winter sports advocate. I want to make sure winter sports aren’t left out of the planning.”
“I want us to be seen as one team – winter and summer together – to be seen as Olympians.”
Always in pursuit of excellence, whether that be on the slalom course or around the boardroom table, Small is excited but cautious about the impact she hopes to create as an athlete, an advocate and ambassador for the Olympic movement.
When she does feel those moments of uncertainty, she embraces the tenacity of that 16-year-old girl who bravely broke the silence of that international press conference at the Youth Olympics a decade ago and asked one of skiing’s greats about her lucky undies.
And then after a hearty giggle, she goes confidently in the direction of her dreams, knowing she has already created a memorable legacy.
Impact
Manuela Berchtold Moguls Skier
“I love skiing. I love the freestyle skiing community. I love winter sports, but I know I am much more than that. I have so much more to give.”
From the Princess of Moguls to the Queen of Business:
Manuela Berchtold’s quest for greatness.
BY CATRIONA DIXON
“I’m stamped urgent,” Manuela Berchtold laughs as she describes her whirlwind approach to life, and the characteristics, that have fuelled her transition from a two-time Olympic mogul skier to a business leader.
“Urgent about life and getting things done.”
When you look around her gym, High Country Fitness, nestled above the NSW Snowy Mountain’s township of Jindabyne, it’s easy to see how excellence in the sporting world is aligned to success in business.
The walls are lined with photos and memorabilia from Olympic winter athletes.
Penned message of thanks from those who have trained or rehabilitated under her guidance, grace an autograph wall.
Gym equipment is neatly laid out; the free weights area is organised with military precision.
Giant TV screens line the cycle and group fitness studio areas as clients enjoy both virtual and live classes. Allied Health treatment rooms for massage and physiotherapists fringe the main section of the gym.
In her office, tucked away at the back of the centre, files are colour coded and positioned according to size; nothing is out of place. This is Manuela’s world. Her happy place.
This is the business she dreamed about and the one she built in the wake of her retirement after representing Australia at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympic Games.
“One of my teammates used to say, I’m ‘stamped urgent’ about life,” Berchtold says laughingly.”
“At the time we thought the saying was pretty funny, but I’ve adopted it in all I do.”
“I make life a priority. I want to get things done.”
An urgency for excellence has underpinned Berchtold’s success as an athlete, a businesswoman and as an investor in the future stars of Australian winter sport.
As an athlete, she boasts a long and distinguished career on the world stage, competing for 12 years on the World Cup Circuit, at two Olympic Games and being the first Australian woman to make the Olympic moguls final in 2006.
As a businesswoman, she has brought a simple business plan to life revolutionizing snow sports fitness.
As an investor, she is giving back to the next generation of winter sport athletes, through sponsorship initiatives and her involvement in guiding their rehabilitation, strength and conditioning needs.
While some people may marvel at the speed at which Berchtold has embraced these roles, you only need to look at the pace and tenacity she has showed challenging the world’s toughest mogul fields to understand her drive and ambition.
“The Olympics definitely taught me resilience,” she says.
“It taught me belief in myself beyond anything. The magic of the Olympics is that anything can happen, and often, anything does happen.”
“Every four years is our time to show everyone what their belief in us means.”
“I love the Olympics because it is the pinnacle of sport. I take that same approach in everything I do.”
After finishing 14th at the Torino Winter Games, Berchtold shifted her focus from elite sport to building her fitness empire on the shores of Lake Jindabyne.
She returned to her hometown from the Games and within weeks threw herself into setting up a gym at a holiday resort.
But it wasn’t as celebrious as it sounds.
“They gave me this tiny room in the car park,” she says, remembering her humble beginnings.
“It was leaking, it stank. It was a storage room. It had so much old crap in it, but I measured it out and thought, I can make this work.”
“I painted it in vibrant colours, purples and oranges, and had my Olympic paraphernalia and posters everywhere. I built a little stage and bought seven spin bikes.”
“I ran 25 classes on my own each week. I’d run the 6am class followed by the 7.15am then 9.30am, a lunch time and evening class.”
“I’d be behind the reception and check everyone in, then I’d jump on the bike on the stage and lead the class.”
“Immediately after the class I was behind reception desk trying to book customers in for another session. It was ridiculous!”
Less than four months after her return from the Olympics, High Country Fitness was born.
Today Berchtold’s new gym sits at the top of town, adjacent to Jindabyne Central School, over-looking the shopping centre, and has the sought-after lake view she has long desired.
The two-story premises was converted from a Swiss restaurant in 2011 and impresses with high ceilings and rustic alpine beams. It has been renovated several times since – and there are more plans for expansion.
Her commitment to the business is illustrated by the fact she sleeps just five hours a night and spends her spare time reading books written by business gurus Jim Collins and Mark Bouris.
“One of my friends asked me really early on, how do you know this is going to work?” she says.
“My response was really simple. I’ve lived here my entire life. I know this is going to work because it’s a gut instinct and I trust it.”
“I’m a person who will do anything. I will work, work, work, to make it better.”
Berchtold says she did “a lot of adulting” in the wake of her retirement from the national team celebrating her 30th birthday, buying a house and starting her business.
While her transition from freestyle skiing was not without its emotional and physical challenges.
“The question I asked myself after the Games was: how long can I do this for?” she confides.
“When you’re in a winter sport in Australia, you’re paying for everything. I had some great sponsors helping me along the way, and mum and dad.”
“But I had this gut check moment asking what will I get out of this if instead of 14th next time, I’m 10th or ninth or even eighth? Is it worth another four years?
“I’m not getting on with my passions and my cause. My body also had a fair rattling on the moguls.”
“I love skiing. I love the freestyle skiing community. I love winter sports, but I know I am much more than that. I have so much more to give.”
Born to Swiss ski instructors, Berchtold and her younger brother and fellow freestyle mogul skier, Andrea, were brought up in idyllic Jindabyne in the 1980s.
Her parents Ursula and Karl met while working in Canada in the 1960s.
They were married in Las Vegas and travelled the world for eight years before starting a family and settling in the Tyrolean Village on the east shore of the lake where they still live today.
Her father remembers seeing the old town of Jindabyne before it was flooded in the late 1950s. He was one among the first ski instructors at Thredbo and later took a job as a fitter and turner with the Snowy Hydro Scheme.
Her mother worked as a bookkeeper. She also established and ran the town’s trampoline club for 33 years.
Berchtold and her brother attended Jindabyne Public School before taking a 60-minute bus ride to Cooma for their high school years. After heavy snowfalls, she recalls “wagging” school to go skiing, “as long as we did our homework”.
The duo chased the eternal winter, travelling the world together for more than a decade as they competed in events throughout Europe and North America.
Berchtold’s parents were committed to ensuring their children took the most of every opportunity.
She remembers her mother not being surprised at all when Andrea voiced his ‘want to do’ stunt work for his year 10 work experience.
Unphased by her thrill-seeking children’s pursuits, Ursula organised for him to spend a week in Sydney with acclaimed stuntman Grant Page.
It was a week well spent.
Andrea has worked as a stunt performer and stunt riggor since he retired from international skiing in 2002 starring in films including The Wolverine, Hacksaw Ridge and the Great Gatsby.
“My parents are hard workers,” Berchtold says.
“We didn’t have lots of money, but we never went without anything when it came to our sport. My mum and dad saved to get us overseas; to get us to our next competition.”
“We never had takeaway. We never ate out. We never went on little weekend holidays but we went to all our trampoline and skiing competitions.”
“I look back on it now, they had both my brother and I in the same sport, it was so expensive. What they did for us is huge. I am so grateful.”
One thing Berchtold did learn from her parents is the importance punctuality and organisation plays in success.
“It’s a Swiss thing” she jokes.
“You hear that saying set your clocks to a Swiss train. I grew up with my parents saying, if I wasn’t five minutes early, I was late.”
“You can show someone how much you respect them by being on time. Those are some of my values. If I say something I’m going to do it.”
“I know we need signed contracts today, but my word is my word.”
“One of my favourite things is to under promise and over-deliver, go the extra mile do all the things you need to do.”
“You also don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression. It’s important to present as a good human being.”
Berchtold embraced this approach throughout her sporting career, always grateful to those locals who donated a restaurant gift voucher, a pair of gloves or a beanie to support a fundraising raffle.
She has never forgotten, nor taken it for granted. She still writes thank you notes and is committed to giving back to her community through service to snow sports.
Over the years, she has been a regular speaker at local schools, encouraging students to follow their dreams and to embrace physical fitness, health and wellbeing.
Together with 2002 teammate and friend Alice Jones, she started the Future Olympic Scholarship Fund to help emerging Olympians with the costs associated with winter sports.
Among those to receive $5000 support were biathlete Alex Almoukov, cross country skier Ben Sim and freestyle skiers Nicole Parks and Ramone Cooper.
“Everyone knows me,” Berchtold says with a contagious, yet humble energy when talking about her community.
“They’ve been so amazing. I’m so grateful for their support both as an athlete and now with my business.”
“The Olympics is connection on a global scale but it’s also about celebrating and support at a local level. It’s important for me to continue that. To invest in others.”
Asked if she has taken the time to reflect on her achievements as an athlete, businesswoman and investor in winter sports?
“As athletes, I think we are always so quick to try and move on and better ourselves,” Berchtold says.”
“We don’t ever stop to reflect; to say I’ve done well in the circumstance, I’m proud of what I’ve done. It’s just not something that happens.”
Perhaps now is the time to ‘stamp urgent’ on doing just that.
Impact
Jeannette Korten Alpine Skier
“The whole world comes together in a sporting arena. Superstars and then the smaller nations, like us at the Winter Games. We come together in goodwill and to share our passion for sport.”
The humble hero creating personal impact
BY CATRIONA DIXON
A conversation with Olympic Alpine skier Jeannette Korten is like a good cup of tea. It’s sweet, warms your soul and leaves you wanting more.
Interestingly, the topics of discussion with the Salt Lake City team member never seem to be about her, nor her pursuits in the sport where she achieved international fame.
Korten is one of the nation’s most celebrated alpine skiers. She finished 25th at the 2002 Olympic Games; her best result 15th at the 1996 World Championship in the combined event.
Instead, Korten talks about her late mother Ailsa, who worked for the United Nations as an epidemiologist and later became an academic in mental health. A woman ahead of her time.
There are tales of the 50,000km motorbike ride she took with husband Linden from Seattle to Santiago. A man who lives by the mantra: “You can’t have an adventure without a bit of discomfort.”
Proud stories about pursuits of her daughters Lilou (10) and Ines (8), one mad about rugby union playing with the Piglets for the Jindabyne Bush Pigs, the other a 100m sprinter who’s just made regionals. Schoolgirls forging their way in the world.
Humble. Intelligent. Engaged. Kind.
These are the words that describe a woman who has made her name in alpine pursuits and is now giving back through her medical expertise as a physiotherapist.
“I’m not much of a storyteller, I’m more of a listener,” Korten says with a smile.”
“I would say that’s probably one of the things that makes me a good physio.”
“It’s been 20 years since I was involved in the Games directly as an athlete.”
“I don’t identify myself primarily as an Olympian by any means. I identify myself more as a mum and as a physio.”
Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Korten and her older brother Andrew spent their childhood living in Europe.
Her parents met working at the United Nations in their 20s, but tragedy struck when her father Hans-Dietmar was killed in a car accident when Korten was just seven years old.
The family moved across the border to France, due to the expense of living in Switzerland, before returning home to Australia the following year.
Her mother Ailsa took a position as an academic, focused on mental health at the Australian National University, while Korten started at Telopea Park, a bi-national French-Australian school in Canberra.
Weekends were spent in the Snowy Mountains ski resort Guthega with both Korten and her brother becoming members of the Brindabella Ski Club.
“It was a transition and reflection phase for mum,” the now 46-year-old remembers.”
“I think it was probably harder for my brother, but mum tried to make it easy for us. She was ready to come home to Australia.”
“I loved spending time in the mountains with my family. I loved the ski club. I connected and I felt like I was part of something. I was part of a team. I was part of a tribe.”
“I was one of those kids who’d get out there, no matter rain or shine, I’d walk up and down the hill, do my drills. I just loved it.”
Korten’s natural talents were soon identified and before long she had earned her first call up to forerun at an International Ski Federation event at Mount Buller, Victoria.
But things didn’t go to plan; she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and was sidelined from the sport for almost a year.
Korten would experience the same injury just two years later at 13, after being selected for an international pre-Olympic youth event, Jeunesse Du Monde, in Albertville, France.
“I had to write an application form to take part in the youth event. I was selected. It was so excited. Then I blew out my knee. I was absolutely devastated,” she says.
“What was worse at the time, but in retrospect is pretty cool, my brother went instead of me. It opened up opportunities for him.”
“For me, it was tough, but I’ve always used my injuries as a driver to get back to racing.”
Korten spent two winters as a teenage exchange student in the French Alps fine-tuning her craft and falling in love with the sport.
She competed against the best age-group skiers in Europe, while completing her high school studies over an extended time frame.
Korten trekked the slalom course at Meribel with her host family, cowbells in hand, to watch four-time Olympian turned politician Zali Steggall make her debut at the 1992 Albertville Games.
“I felt a mixture of pride and awe. I thought Zali was so cool,” she says.
“I really had no idea what was involved in getting to that stage and no idea what was to come for me. One thing I did know is I wanted more of it.”
“I saw Zali down at Perisher this winter. I still feel that same mixture of pride and awe for what she is doing in politics and what she has achieved in life.”
Not surprisingly, most of Korten’s favourite memories are linked by friendship, the pursuit of excellence and international goodwill.
A pre-children trip with husband Linden, riding dirt bikes from Washington State, USA to Chile was not just an adventure, but an insight into humanity. Their interaction with local people outshining the thrill of adventure or challenges faced.
“You’re sitting on a motorbike, riding through the Altiplano in Peru at high altitude, hail coming down, freezing and you get this pooling of ice in your crutch,” the skier says.
“You still have 200km to ride and you are asking yourself: ‘Why the hell am I doing this?’ It’s absolute misery. But then you get somewhere warm, you dry off, you see the sunset and the alpacas, it’s phenomenal.”
“The best part of our trip was the people we met along the way.”
“We’d rock up, covered from head to toe in dirt and dust. We stank because we’d been camping and riding a dirt bike all day.”
“They’d open their doors to us. They’d bring us into their homes, offer us food and a place to stay.”
Korten talks passionately about the impact of the Olympic movement and the role it plays in international understanding among nations.
She remembers working at the Sydney Olympics as “one of the best experiences of my life”.
Her role in Language Services was to assist athletes and dignitaries at sporting venues including hockey, taekwondo, tennis and table tennis at the 2000 Games.
“We have become very insular over the past two years with the world closing down due to the pandemic,” she says.
“Reflecting on this has really made me appreciate how the Olympics open up the world.”
“The whole world comes together in a sporting arena. Superstars and then the smaller nations, like us at the Winter Games. We come together in goodwill and to share our passion for sport.”
“The Olympics make the world seem bigger, but smaller at the same time, in the way it brings people together.”
Today Korten brings her Olympic ideals to sport and to her community through her medical expertise.
Over the years she has worked internationally and domestically helping athletes, including the British and Monaco ski teams, as team physio.
At her practice in Jindabyne, her clients range from winter Olympians to weekend sporting warriors and farmers.
She works closely with fellow Olympian and snow fitness guru Manuela Berchtold, with her rooms based at the mogul skier’s gym High Country Fitness.
“The way I have impact is very much on a one-to-one basis,” Korten says of her work.”
“It’s not a big stage. That’s not my personality.”
“I like having those chats with athletes. Talking about their rehabilitation and headspace.”
“I draw on my own personal experience try to connect.”
And connect she does. Just like a good cup of tea.
Impact
Behind The
Scenes (BTS)
Impact Shoot
BTS VIDEO
BTS PHOTOS
