NSWIS contingent ready for Russia

A total of 29 NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) athletes have been selected on the Australian Olympic Team heading to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

The 29 NSWIS scholarship holders on the Australian Olympic Team will be the largest ever contingent of NSWIS athletes competing at the Winter Olympic Games, 11 more than the previous record of 18 athletes in Vancouver 2010.

“To be selected on an Olympic team is a fantastic achievement, and on behalf of the Institute I would like to congratulate the NSWIS athletes on their selection for Sochi,” said NSWIS Chief Executive Charles Turner.

“Having 29 NSWIS winter sport athletes on the Australian Olympic Team is a testament to the strength of our program, as well as an indication of the excellent support we receive from our program partners including the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia.

“Australia is now a major player in the winter sports arena, and we are all looking forward to watching our athletes compete for gold.”

Headlining the selections is snowboarder Alex Pullin, the current back-to-back world champion in the men’s snowboard cross, who will compete at his second Winter Olympic Games. Pullin is joined on the team by fellow NSWIS snowboard cross athletes Jarryd Hughes, Cam Bolton and Belle Brockhoff.

Reigning Olympic champion Torah Bright lines up at her third Winter Games alongside fellow three time Olympian Holly Crawford and debutant Steph Magiros in the women’s snowboard half-pipe, with Nathan Johnstone and Kent Callister competing in the men’s event.

Young gun Britt Cox spearheads the Institute’s freestyle moguls hopes at her second Winter Olympics, while in the ski cross Sami Kennedy-Sim will make her Olympic debut after suffering an infarct stroke in April 2013.

A further 17 NSWIS athletes will compete in Sochi, with 14 of those athletes making their Olympic debuts. Included in the debutants is skeleton athlete John Farrow, bobsleigh athlete and two time summer Olympian Jana Pittman, and Russ Henshaw, who makes his Olympic debut in the ski slopestyle as the event appears on the Olympic schedule for the first time.

The full list of NSWIS athletes on the 2014 Australian Olympic Team is as follows:
 

The Institute wishes to congratulate all NSWIS scholarship holders on their selection to the 2014 Australian Olympic Team.

Visit the NSWIS Sochi website for the latest information NSWIS athletes heading to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.