Dale begs the question: can Australia win a mogul medal in Turin?

From:http://www.smh.com.au
Dale Begg-Smith has strengthened his claims as one of Australia's hottest medal hopes in Turin and will spearhead the country's largest ski and snowboard representation at a Winter Olympic Games.

The Canadian-born 21-year-old mogul skier capped an outstanding few days when he won a third World Cup round on Sunday, triumphing at Lake Placid, New York, where his second victory, on Friday, elevated him to world No.1.

The latest win gave him 405 points in the World Cup standings, putting him 109 points clear of his nearest rival, Alexandre Bilodeau of Canada.

Dale Begg-Smith results are a major boost for Ski & Snowboard Australia, which finalised its team for Turin on Sunday by including former world champion Jacqui Cooper, who won the fourth and final place on the aerial ski team.

Selectors gave their discretionary pick to Cooper ahead of Laine Cole and Bree Munro to join automatic selections Alisa Camplin, Lydia Ierodiaconou and Liz Gardner.

The Australian Olympic Committee is scheduled to name its full Games team, expected to number about 40, tomorrow. For the first time, SSA has been able to nominate more than one athlete in every discipline - alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing and snowboarding - with 25 set to compete in Turin.

SSA chief executive Michael Kennedy was delighted at the progress that had been made in the past four years.

"We sent five athletes to Salt Lake City 2002 who had won World Cup medals, but this team contains nine athletes who have made World Cup podiums," Kennedy said.

"In the four years prior to the 2002 Games, our athletes had won 35 World Cup medals, whereas in the past four years leading up to [Turin] we have collected 54 medals."

Begg-Smith, who came out to Australia six years ago with his older brother Jason and stayed out of competitive skiing for three years to qualify for Australia, has confirmed his place as a strong medal hope in Turin in one of the most competitive sports.

Olympic Winter Institute of Australia CEO Geoff Lipshut was delighted with Begg-Smith's form, which has extended to three consecutive winning runs.

"It's fantastic," Lipshut said. "He's doing it when it counts at the moment, he understands the game and he's got good skills. He

is very strong mentally, and when you qualify first in an event like this, you're the last person to ski, so you have to watch everyone else and then know what you have to beat and withstand all that pressure, and not everyone does that."

Mogul skiing is traditionally dominated by North Americans, and Lipshut said an Olympic medal in the event would rank among Australia's greatest sporting achievements. "Dale is right up there," he said. "He's a medal hope with 12 others - there's him, four Americans, four Canadians and four Finns, and a medal would be an amazing because this is one of the tough events and it's a tough business."

"In events like this, the US are usually so strong they can go one-two-three-four and any one of 12 of their skiers could be Olympic medallists, so it's a renewed sense of confidence for us and vindication for our system, our coaching and our talent."

Begg-Smith was an emerging skier when he arrived in Jindabyne via Melbourne about six years ago, and spent most of his time becoming technically proficient through Australian training programs as he and Jason, now 25, stood out of competitive skiing while waiting for their Australian citizenship to be processed.

Athletes nominated to the AOC by SSA selection committee: Aerial skiing - Alisa Camplin, Jacqui Cooper, Liz Gardner, Lydia Ierodiaconou; Alpine skiing - AJ Bear (super G), Craig Branch (downhill, combined), Jono Brauer (slalom, combined), Brad Wall (giant slalom); Cross-country skiing - Esther Bottomley (sprint), Clare-Louise Brumley (pursuit, 15km classic), Paul Murray (sprint); Mogul skiing - Manuela Berchtold, Dale Begg-Smith, Jason Begg-Smith, Nick Fisher, Michael Robertson; Snowboard - Torah Bright, Holly Crawford, Mitchell Allan, Andrew Burton , Ben Mates (all halfpipe), Emanuel Oppliger, Johanna Shaw (both parallel giant slalom), Damon Hayler, Emily Thomas (both snowboard cross).

AAP