“Becoming a father sort of . . .  it’s just given me a whole new motivation at the moment to really push forward in the sport. Essentially, part of me knows that I have to do this I’m not doing it just for me anymore . . .  I’m doing it for my family too. And if I can succeed in the sport, then I’m also helping my family out. So that’s really instilled a new motivation in me.”

– Matt Graham, Olympic medallist  

The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) has captured the raw emotion, surges of adrenaline, tears, triumphs, and deep-seeded fears of 10 of its Winter Sport athletes in the second edition of the acclaimed docuseries, NSWIS Lights Up.

The series, which will be launched at a Hollywood-style red carpet event at the Institute’s Sydney Olympic Park HQ this Monday, allowed Olympic gold moguls medallist Jakara Anthony OAM, Olympic silver medallist Matthew Graham, Olympic bronze medallist Tess Coady and Paralympic bronze medallist Ben Tudhope to reveal what drives them to push beyond their limits.

“It was just post-2022 Beijing Olympics, and I sat down with my sport advisor,” recalled snowboarder Adam Lambert, who won a silver medal at the 2025 FIS Snowboard Cross World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

“She asked, ‘what do you want to get out of this? What do you want to do with this? ‘And I said, ‘well, I want to win.’  And everything I did from then on was like more intentional, and I knew why I was doing it, and I understood the reasons why it was going to improve my snowboarding.

“And for me as an individual, me as an athlete, that understanding was very important for my motivation levels as well as my commitment. I believe at least that I’m the fittest, strongest, best snowboarder I’ve ever been.”

The interviews were shot on location in Jindabyne by NSWIS’s media team as the athletes prepared for their World Cup campaigns and assaults on either the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic or Paralympic Games which start respectively on February 6, 2026, and then March 6.

NSW Minister of Sport, Steve Kamper MP, said the NSWIS Lights Up series was as much about educating the viewer about the demands of high performance sport as it was to inspire them.

“Each story featured in NSWIS Lights Up is not only a celebration of the pursuit of excellence by our state’s elite winter sports athletes, but they’re a vehicle to help educate aspiring athletes about the realities of competing in high performance sport,” said Minister Kamper.

“Just as importantly, these stories detail the triumphs, fears and sacrifices of each athlete. The 2025 edition of NSWIS Lights Up is a tremendous reminder of what people with a dream can achieve.” 

 

Jakara Anthony (pictured above), who’ll have the opportunity to compete for two moguls’ gold medals at Milano Cortina Games, spoke about being a perfectionist who needed to learn how to cope with the weight of expectations from other people.

“I’ve definitely gone through times in my career where expectations have got the better of me and I’ve felt that pressure,” said Anthony. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist, but if I can use that to my advantage, then that’s what drives me to keep trying to improve every day.

“[It] can be overwhelming sometimes, and then there’s also expectations from other people. That’s one of those other things you can’t control, and when you’re listening to those, it can make things get pretty tricky and feel overwhelming, so trying to focus back in on what it is that you can do.”

Paralympian Ben Tudhope (pictured above), who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 12 months of age, revealed he had a natural gift for overcoming challenges on and off the snow and ice.

“I always had a wit about me where I thought a lot smarter than kind of anyone else,” he said. “And so, I was able to kind of weave around, I guess, anyone who was maybe, not bullying me, but leading into that way.

“My dad tells a story still where in kindergarten, my friends or my peers were running around in a circle. And I was trying to, but I just couldn’t keep up with them. And so, in my little mind of a four-year-old, I was like, ‘why do I need to run in a circle? Why can’t I just run from that point to that point in a straight line and meet the other kids there and there?’ And so that’s what I was doing while they were running around in a circle.

“I remember as well, I wasn’t able to tie my shoelaces because the dexterity in my left hand for a very long time. I think I learnt in year 7 or 8, which is quite late at school. But I came home one day, and dad saying, ‘are you able to tie your shoelaces yet?’ And I was like, ‘no, no, no. I got it under control though. I get my mate Toby to do my right one. I put my foot out and he does that one. And then I put my left foot out and Ed does that one.’ For me it was like, yeah, I got it all under control.”

Others, like Charlotte Wilson (above) – who created history when she set the record for winning a world cup gold medal the fewest amount of starts (10) by an Australian mogul skier– spoke openly about controlling the fear that accompanies her as she screams down a mountain.

 “My biggest fear as an athlete is crashing,” said Wilson. “Mogul skiing is a pretty demanding sport. I know there’s lots of sports that are extreme, but travelling that fast down a hill, doing flips off jumps, and just having to flow into a bunch of bumps is pretty crazy . . . it’s pretty terrifying standing at the top of the hill and knowing that that’s what you have to ski into.”

Series Two of NSWIS Lights Up will be available on to watch for free on NSWIS.com/YouTube from November 3.

Daniel Lane, NSWIS

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