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Melbourne mum ready to leap for gold again

Australian aerials skier Lydia Lassila. (AAP Image/Julian SMmth
Expert
6th February, 2014
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Melbourne’s Lydia Lassila is an old hand at making comebacks in her Winter Olympic sport, freestyle aerials, and she also has a great reputation of making them successful.

The 32-year-old has had two knee reconstructions, the second of which stopped her from competing in the 2006 Olympics in Torino, but she recovered superbly to win a silver medal in her first competition in 2007 before securing her first World Cup triumph in the following year.

She continued to star in the sport over the next two years and dominate World Cup events, where her overall gold medal haul currently stands at 11. There have also been 11 silvers and eight bronze.

With wonderful form behind her to go with enormous confidence and self belief, Lassila, whose maiden name is Ierodiaconou, went to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver four years ago.

She was able to achieve what another champion Australian female aerial skier, Alissa Camplin, achieved back in 2002 – win a cherished Olympic Gold medal.

Lydia performed well to breeze into the final. She was second after her first jump in the final, before nailing it on her second jump to put herself in a position to have that gold medal dangling around her neck.

She had a nervous wait, though, as the leader after the first round in the final, China’s Zu Mengatu, still had to complete her last jump.

After some almost flawless displays in previous rounds, Zu stumbled in her landing and Lassila was an Olympic Gold medallist and the toast of Australia after all she and her knees had been through.

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As well as being an Olympic gold medalist, the one award Lydia coveted more than anything else, there were other honours.

The 2010 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Award, the Australian Female Athlete of the Year award and the Victorian Institute of Sport Athlete of 2010 were all hers too.

She also picked up contracts with a number of products and businesses, handling all the new adulation outstandingly, before stepping away from the sport to have her first child, Kai.

Life couldn’t have been better, but as we know Lassila thrives on comebacks.

This time, she could return without pain or having to go through the long and, at times difficult, process of rehabilitation to try and win a second Olympic Gold like Torah Bright and Dale Begg-Smith.

Winning your first Olympic Gold or premiership or major golf or tennis championship is special to every elite sportsperson. For most of them it is understandably the highlight of their career; but to do it twice indicates a level of greatness.

It’s especially tough at the Summer and Winter Olympics as they only come around every four years and Lydia Lassila, returning from a break, has shown she should be right in contention at Sochi.

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She won a gold at a World Cup event last year, along with a silver, and was third overall in her first season back in 2012/2013.

She also finished fifth at the world titles last year, so she has excellent performances and credentials behind her going into Russia’s big show over the next fortnight.

Lydia also has developed magnificent skills and experience in dealing with pressure and in pulling out that jump to win gold in Vancouver four years ago. She has the confidence to perform at the highest level in the toughest of situations.

If she can emulate her feats in Canada and win her second Olympic gold medal, it should go down as one of this country’s most popular victories of all Olympic Games. It’s her time to shine again!

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